Joe Medicine Crow gets Presidential Medal of Freedom

During World War II a soldier entered into the battle wearing traditional war paint under his uniform. On Wednesday the soldier, Joe Medicine Crow was at the White House to receive the Presidential Medal of Medal.

Joe Medicine Crow has walked in two sets of moccasins, understanding both the Indian and white man’s worlds. His grandfather, who helped raise Joe wanted him to become a warrior even if the family did not live on Indian land. When Joe was just a young boy about 6 years old his grandfather had him running barefoot around outside during the cold Montana winter. National Geographic Kids reports:

“The next day he said, ‘Run around twice,’” says Medicine Crow, chuckling. It might sound crazy, but there was a reason. “He was training me to be a warrior!”

Joe Medicine Crow joined other world leaders to be honoured by President Obama for their contributions to the world. Joe came from a line of warriors. His step-grandfather, White Man Runs Him, was an eyewitness to the Battle of Big Horn while acting as a scout for George Custer. During the war Crow helped retrieve dynamite that was used to attack the Germans. He earned a Bronze Star for his courage under fire. Crow, a 95-year-old Crow Indian was the first of his tribe to earn a master’s degree. His thesis, “The Effects of European Culture Contact upon the Economic, Social, and Religious Life of the Crow Indians” is the most read source even today for the history of his people. The oldest member of the Crow tribe, Joe Medicine Crow is the last surviving war chief. He is a strong advocate for his people, still bridging the gaps between reservation life and the outside world.

Toronto’s TeamSickKids Off For the 17th World Transplant Games

A group of athletes from Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children are headed to the Gold Coast of Australia to compete in the 17th World Transplant Games with TeamCanada.

Each one of the 25 members of the team have received a heart, lung, liver or kidney transplant. The athletes have been training for months to take part in the games held August 22 to August 30. Sick Kids reports:

“One of the main goals of our organ transplantation program is to provide a better quality of life and as normal a childhood as possible,” said Mary Jo Haddad, President and CEO of SickKids. “Our patients’ participation in the World Transplant Games is a testament not only to the quality of care they have received but also to their own and their families’ resolve. It is their determination, spirit and enthusiasm that we are celebrating today.”

The children that left for the Gold Coast have prepared for several months in an exercise training program with SickKids physiotherapists. This is the second time the team has appeared at the World Transplant Games. In 2007 the 17 heart transplant patients that attended brought Canada back 38 medals from Bangkok, Thailand. The team was the only delegation from Canada to send a team to the Games at that time. This year’s team all receive their treatments at SickKids. The team is comprised of members from eight to 18 years of age. Sick Kids quotes Dr. Anne Dipchand:

“At the 2007 Games, Team SickKids athletes had the opportunity to meet and interact with transplant recipients of all ages and organs,” said Dr. Anne Dipchand, Associate Director of the SickKids Transplant Centre, Head of the SickKids Heart Transplant Program and General Manager of Team SickKids. “One of the greatest highlights for both the parents and the kids was to see people who had received organ transplants as kids, who have grown up into adults leading healthy, successful and fulfilling lives.”

Returning champ Jessica Dorcich, 10, enjoys the chance to meet with other heart transplant patients just like her.

“Even though we have all had different experiences, it is nice to know that we have this chance to come together and compete and show the world what we can do,” she said.

The Daily Observer says that more than 1,500 people from 60 countries will be Down Under competing in the Games this year.

White House not happy with school lunch ads starring Obama girls

There were 14 ad banners at Washington D.C.’s Union Station on August 4 that the White House wanted to disappear. A young girl is featured asking, “President Obama’s daughters get healthy school lunches. Why don’t I?”

The White House may want the ads gone but they are within the right of free speech. While the administration has said that using the daughters of President Obama infringes on their private life, the ads only ask a legitimate question. ABC Blogs reports:

“We’ve been very clear I think from even before the administration started that their two girls would have a very private life, and we want to protect that private life and their privacy,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said this morning when asked about the PCRM posters. “And we hope that others will be respectful, as many in the media have been, about not using the girls as a publicity stunt.”

No one though is speaking on behalf of the eight-year-old Jasmine Messiah of Miami-Dade who is featured in the ad asking a very real question of the government. Why do some children reap the benefits that all children deserve? The ads are from the nonprofit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) who are lobbying for healthy lunch programs within the nation’s school systems. CBS Blogs reports:

“The contrast is not with the daughters,” Dr. Neal Barnard says of the controversial poster, pointing out that Sasha and Malia’s names and pictures are not in the ad. “The contrast is with the school the president’s daughters are able to patronize. Sidwell Friends is able to offer health nutritious meal options.” Veggie burgers are offered alongside hamburgers, vegetarian chili is served next to meat chili with higher cholesterol, he says. “Go a mile away to any school in the district” and what options are there to a bologna-and-cheese sandwich? he asks. “What’s left? Nothing. Nothing at all.”

Little Jasmine brings her own lunch to school by the way in order to have fruits and vegetables. MSNBC quotes the young girl:

“Sometimes I bring in broccoli and carrots and my friends are like, ‘Ewww, this is disgusting,’ ” she told The Miami Herald. “But I think if they tried it more, they’d like it.”

Jasmine is wise. The United States is dealing with a nation of children that have unhealthy diets. At this point one in three will deal at some point in their lives with diabetes. Changing the diets of children in the school could lead to a healthier nation. The campaign by PCRM points out the fact that the average school is pushed to serve high-fat, high-cholesterol foods. This is in spite of the knowledge that a low fat, vegetarian diet helps prevent obesity, heart disease and diabetes. The federal child nutrition legislation does not have provisions in place to support vegetarian meals in schools. News 8 reports that the ads will remain in place at Union Station until August 31.

Associated Press to drive traffic to new AP-hosted website

The Associated Press (AP) is planning to prevent members and customers from publishing some of the AP’s news content on their websites. AP will instead have other news sites link directly to the main AP website for that content.

The Associated Press has put together a briefing of their plans sent to AP members late in July. The document labeled “AP CONFIDENTIAL — NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION” was sent to Nieman Journalism Lab, a project of the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University. Titled “Protect, Point, Pay — An Associated Press Plan for Reclaiming News Content Online,” the document outlines a tracking device that will be attached to future AP content. The Protect, Point and Pay directive will put a copyright on AP content. Nieman Lab reports:

“So a headline item that says, ‘Mid-air collision outside of New York and tourists die,’ let’s say. You can imagine, in the New York area, there are lots of media covering that story.” Kasi, the AP’s general counsel, “it’s not to suggest that there’s a legal distinction.”

The newswire coverage would remain in place, but at a lesser degree than the more complex and unique materials. In easy-to-understand terms, the AP wants users to pay for the content and to drive additional traffic to their site. That move could put bloggers and smaller journalism sites at risk if they use AP content. It could also have those users refusing to take a chance with AP content, thus reducing traffic to AP’s site. AP will be using a microformat called hNews, Ars Technica reports. The program annotates news stories with information about the author, dateline and other key meta targeting aspects. It is open-source software. That software is already in use by some other media outlets in an effort to ensure users tag all sources used. It remains to be seen if AP’s plans will strengthen their hold on news content or if it will have news media sites turn away to other sources.

Computers are becoming the standard text book

Millions of trees could be sighing a breath of relief in the future as computers become the standard in schools instead of textbooks if some reports are correct. Still those mighty oaks will have to wait a while before they are in the clear.

Not everyone is in favor of textbooks going the way of the dinosaur but it does make ecological sense. Textbooks are quickly outdated while computers are updated within minutes. Still it depends on what level of education to understand the near future trends when it comes to textbooks vs. computers. It may be many years before the companies that make those heavy textbooks delve into a world without pages to turn. In college those tomes are a money maker. Students generally spend over $1,000 a year for their books. As professors demand the latest editions the used books are worthless for the next year’s students. Delaware Online reports:

“It’s safe to say that paper, printed texts continue to be the bulk of the demand,” said Elio DiStaola, spokesman for the Follett Higher Education Group, which manages 800 bookstores in North America, including those at Delaware State University and St. Mark’s High School. “But we’re seeing more of those texts available in the electronic format. Our bookstores are preparing for that shift to accelerate. We have to assume that it will.”

There are about 4,500 college stores in the United States that survive because of those heavy tomes. With average sales hovering around $3 million the owners are unlikely to push for computers being the new textbooks. Computer teaching has a more self-study approach than standard textbooks approach. Information on the computer is grasped in a different way than when it is obtained by reading a book. It’s hard to write in the margins of a computer after all. While higher learning institutions don’t see the textbook being replaced by computers United States school systems may be nudging towards that day. A report in The New York Times shows that many school districts are providing their students with computers for lessons and homework assignments. Some teachers see the day when the computer is the textbook.

“Kids are wired differently these days,” said Sheryl R. Abshire, chief technology officer for the Calcasieu Parish school system in Lake Charles, La. “They’re digitally nimble. They multitask, transpose and extrapolate. And they think of knowledge as infinite. “They don’t engage with textbooks that are finite, linear and rote,” Dr. Abshire continued. “Teachers need digital resources to find those documents, those blogs, those wikis that get them beyond the plain vanilla curriculum in the textbooks.”

In California some science and math texts are being replaced with open source digital versions. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger hopes that this initiative could save hundreds of millions of dollars each year. The computer is not a reliable text tool though unless every student is equip with not only their own device but also with Internet access.

“A large portion of our kids don’t have computers at home, and it would be way too costly to print out the digital textbooks,” said Tim Ward, assistant superintendent for instruction in California’s 24,000-student Chaffey Joint Union High School District, where almost half the students are from low-income families.

The fairly near future though may see kids toting their computer bags instead of backpacks jammed full of books weighing half of what they do. The future student may not understand how their parents sat in a class listening to a teacher lecture and then going home to read chapters at a time. They are liable to ask, “But what program did you use to store the information in so that you could use it later Mom?”

Zinc pill can stop childhood diarrhea deaths

One pill can save a child in Africa suffering from diarrhea. The hand of death takes 1.6 million children under the age of 5 world-wide from the ravages of the bowel condition according to the World Health Organization.

In Africa and Asia millions die each year from the affects of diarrhea. That seems a high figure to those in those in the West. More children die from the disease than from malaria or AIDS. That could end if children are given a single Zinc pill. It appears the medication stops diarrhea in its tracks. That appears to be the findings in many studies, including one done in New Delhi, India. With charity support some villages are seeing a turn around because of the pills. Bill and Melinda Gate’s charity work along with the Idol Gives Back program are just two that are helping supply village medical clinics with zinc pills. Time reports:

“Before, we were terrified when children’s stomachs began running, because we knew some of them would die,” says Sata Djialla in the Malian village of Morola. “Now our children are not dying of diarrhea.”

The reason the pill works is because many in undeveloped nations have zinc deficiencies. Zinc deficiency lowers the immune system making children and adults more susceptible to infections that cause diarrhea. Zinc has also been shown to increase the activation of T cells that destroy viruses and bacteria. With this new awareness it is possible that childhood deaths may decrease in the near future.

Think Magazine launches August 10

Think Magazine launched Monday. Editor Jacqueline Carlisle wanted to her magazine to launch paperless and yet still have the look of a print magazine, not an easy task for an online product.

The focus of Think is sustainable living in a light, friendly atmosphere. Editor-in-chief Jacqueline Carlisle has spent months behind the scenes getting her magazine just the right look prior to Monday’s launch. Carlisle, a beautiful Brit living in Toronto, has put her love of the sustainable world into a very eco-friendly design. Without the use of paper she has been able to give the same quality that one would expect from a high quality production. The magazine uses flash to carry readers through beautifully presented articles. Toronto’s Mychol Scully has used his expertise in coding to do this. The first issue features articles on clothing designer Ada Zanditon, designer Andrew Haarsager and a new breed of eco-friendly cars which was also published today at Digital Journal.

The compressed-air powered AIRPod is car for green living

The designers of the AIRPod took into consideration large cities and the environment when putting their cars on the drawing board. What came from those considerations is a car that is perfect for the city dweller and leaves zero pollution in its wake.

Using the Swiss company MDI’s engine designs and adapting the technologies to enable an oxygen powered engine to fuel a car. AIRPod is able to do the impossible — use compressed air to power a car. For those who are focused on preserving the environment AIRPod is a dream for consumers. The AIRPod was on display this winter at the International Geneva Motor Show 2009. During the 10-day event the MDI stand saw almost 700,000 visitors. Some of those that hit the stand had checkbooks in hand ready to be one of the first to own an AIRPod or at the very least to rent one. According to those who worked the event’s stand on average 200 people wanted their own AIRPod daily. AIRPod is a revolutionary vehicle that takes green living to the streets. The Swiss-made car uses compressed air instead of gasoline for fuel. The concept car left the production line in Spring 2009.

The car uses a joystick for steering. A fill-up only costs a single euro per 200 km. On busy city streets the AIRPod breezes in and out of tight parking spaces enabling the driver a wider range of parking spots. The sharp design is an added plus for trendy city drivers. The compact AIRPod car can seat three adults and one child and still provide room for luggage. Dedicated to both the private and public consumer the AIRPod delivers a sound investment. The AIRPod Baby is a two-seater with a luggage area of more than 500 liters. The Baby was designed with the city driver’s needs with enough flexibility to be able to be used for deliveries, municipal services, roads and small logistics.

// <![CDATA[// // <![CDATA[// Need more room? The AIRPod Cargo was designed for those that need cargo space. The cargo area can hold up to a meter cube making it easy to shuttle deliveries around town. The AIRPod has even made it into children’s storybooks. “From the Air for the Planet” written by Mr. Jean-Marie Defossez raises awareness about environmental protection for the next generation. The book tells the adventures the characters face while they look for pollution free vehicles to get around in. Published by Flammarion the book can be found on the Internet. While the AIRPod is still hard to get soon air-powered cars will be pulling into a parking spot close to you.

Canada needs sperm donors

Thousands of Canadians who are infertile in Canada have to place all their hopes on just 33 men who are Canadian sperm donors. Other donors are imported from outside of the nation, a result of the Assisted Human Reproduction Act.

At one time Canada had two dozen sperm banks but when the Assisted Human Reproduction Act made it illegal to pay for sperm or egg donors they dried up in 2004. Today there are very few men willing to give up their sperm for nothing. CTV reports:

“Today, there is one South Asian donor for all of Canada,” he says, noting that couples are often shocked at the limited choices. “There is a significant shortage of donor semen in this country, yes.”

While it seems like being a donor is as easy as a sit-com plot in reality there is a screening process that takes time. Egg donors have to inject themselves with fertility medications and then suffer through a painful procedure to extract eggs. For men the process is simpler, a cup and perhaps a couple of Hustler magazines, but it’s no guarantee that the sperm can be used. For every 100 donor candidates only 5 have buggers that swim the right way. For couples wanting to be parents that’s not good news. Outreach Health Services is the biggest supplier of donor sperm but it has to import their product. Most of the donors are from Georgia and Florida where donors are paid $100 per visit. Clients can look through donor listings to select that special sperm, as long as they don’t mind it being foreign brewed. The clinics have little choice with the heavy rules applying to home breed donors. CTV reports:

“The legislation said donors could only be compensated for expenses that could be receipted. There was a grace period where people could be compensated for non-receipted period and we’ve been in that grace period ever since,” Dr. Cliff Librach of the CReATe Fertility Centre in Toronto told CTV.ca, explaining how they’ve managed to keep the Canadian donors they have.

Actor Jaime Foxx on his big break, Ray, collabing with Kanye

Young Eric Marlon Bishop grew up in a tiny Texas town where the side of the railroad tracks told if you were black or white. He now tours the world, a highly paid entertainer in both film and music. Jaime Foxx has come a long way.

Jaime Foxx was in Toronto today to help with the launch of the first LG Life’s Good Film Fest. He talked to the media about his humble beginnings and his views on his career in the entertainment world. Foxx was born in Terrell, Texas, population 12,000. He was raised by his grandparents who wanted their grandson to succeed in the world. His grandmother knew the way to go about that was through music. Foxx began training on classical piano at the age of 5. Those ivory keys opened doors for the young man, first by seeing how the ‘other half’ lived as he performed for the country club crowd and later by providing his education. Foxx went to the United States International University on a full music scholarship in San Diego.

San Diego is just a stone’s throw from the bright lights in Los Angeles. While still in school Foxx started to perform stand-up comedy. The young comic used his skill on the piano as a stepping stone delighting his audiences and getting better gigs. Then came his big break — sketch-comedy show In Living Color hired him in 1991.

Foxx’s role of Wanda, a sex loving transvestite was a hit. That role Foxx announced on Tuesday will make it to the big screen in 2010 along with Martin Lawrence playing his “Sheneneh Jenkins” will begin filming in January. The working title is “Sheneneh and Wanda Rob a MotherF@@king Bank.” Foxx and Lawrence made their test demo for producers unscripted. That test pitch was a hit. An interesting fact about his time at In Living Color also deals with the Wanda character. Foxx had just started his gig there when he meet Teddy Rogers. Still in the Wanda get up he ran up to Rogers to give him a music demo. Foxx laughed remembering that Rogers told him he was “feeling very uncomfortable with this right now.”

One of Foxx’s most rewarding roles was playing Ray Charles in the film Ray, which earned him an Academy Award. It was a film that almost wasn’t able to be made. Lacking the funding until Philip Anschutz came on board fronting the entire $35 million needed the film had been held back. Once the funding was in place the movie went full throttle. Foxx recalled meeting Charles for the first time. The real Ray Charles wanted to play the blues with him on the piano. Foxx held his own until striking a wrong note. After some advice from the master Foxx kept up. “Mr. Charles told me a story about life: ‘The notes are right under your fingers, life is harmony.’ I got it right there!” Foxx was very happy that Charles was able to see the film prior to his death. Of course Foxx was also happy to let the Toronto crowd know that his first film was shot in Toronto, the cult classic (Foxx’s words) “Booty Call.” He said that he fell in love with the warmth of the people and the city during that time in 1992. While the LG event did not allow for media questions Foxx held the crowd’s attention while he talked about his past and his true love, music.

“I was born to do music. Seeing people do my songs is just amazing.” Foxx is currently on tour in North America promoting his latest album Intuition. Foxx enjoyed going to Puff Daddy’s parties. When he asked Puff how much it cost him to throw a party the rapper said, “$2 million.” Foxx told him he was going to throw just as cool a party but for only $400. With a studio in his house Foxx kept his word. At one of those parties a talented rapper showed up. Foxx told the guy he had to sing because everyone did at his parties. Foxx was amazed. He and that rapper, Kanye West, went to the back and started working in the studio. The song “Slow Jamz” is a result of that party. The real reason though that Foxx was at the press gathering was the first LG’s Life’s Good Film Fest launch. He is proud to be part of the launch. “People who do film inspire our culture. I have been lucky to work with some of the greatest film makers in our history. This is a great project. No matter who you are you can get your film out. I am happy and excited to do this film festival. It will give people a chance to live their dreams.”

LG Life’s Good FilmFest Launches in Toronto

On August 11 LG Electronics announced the first LG Life’s Good FilmFest, a Canadian film festival offering up $130,000 in prize money for short films. With no entry fee, this film festival will allow all talent to show their stuff.

“There’s really no other film festival like the LG Life’s Good FilmFest. The concept is simple: an engaging HD short film festival with no entry fee and the chance to win incredible cash prizes. We’re absolutely thrilled that Jaime Foxx could join us to help launch the festival, as his amazing work in film, comedy and music really exemplifies the spirit and talent the FilmFest will no doubt attract,” Tim Barnes said to a media gathering to announce the film festival. Tim Barnes, marketing director for LG Electronics Canada told a media gathering about the short film festival. Using old school snail mail, participants can send in their films in hopes of winning the $100,000 grand prize within one of four categories: Animation, Fashion and Music, Sports and Narrative. The other top three films will each win $10,000 in prize money.

Viewers can watch the short films that have been submitted on the LG’s Life’s Good YouTube channel or at the LG Film Fest site. During the holiday season shoppers will be able to take a five-minute break in stores while viewing some of the best short films from the Film Festival. “We will be giving customers a chance to smile.” stated Barnes. The films will all be presented in HD format, giving the best views for the film makers. Deadline for entering this year’s FilmFest is October 16. The winner will be announced in January 2010. Some people that attended questioned Foxx as the celebrity launching the festival because he is not Canadian. Still Foxx does bring a vast array of talent to the table.

Connor Cruise To Star in ‘Red Dawn’ Remake

Connor Cruise, son of actor Tom Cruise, is joining the cast of Red Dawn. The movie is a remake of the 1984 cult classic.

Connor will be tackling the role of Daryl, the mayor’s son. Also signed onto the project are Josh Hutcherson, Isabel Lucas, Edwin Hodge, Chris Hemsworth, Josh Peck and Adrianne Palicki. The movie will begin shooting in Detroit this December. The release date has been set for September, 10, 2010. Connor Cruise started acting last year, debuting in “Seven Pounds” as Will Smith’s character son. Red Dawn, the original was rated the most violent movie ever made in the 2007 Guinness Book of World Records according to the Guardian. The film centers around the players of an American high school football team that escape when their town is taken over by a Soviet invasion. They become known as the Wolverines, the team’s name. The 1984 film helped jump start the careers of Charlie Sheen and Patrick Swayze who played brothers in the film.

Gibson, world’s tallest dog, dies in California

Gibson, who gained fame as the world’s tallest dog has died in California. Gibson, a certified therapy dog dedicated his life to giving comfort and happiness to everyone along his path.

Gibson was diagnosed with osteosarcoma. After the diagnosis his owner and Gibson startted a campaign to spread the awareness of canine cancer, Three Paws for the Cause. One of Gibson’s front legs had to be removed because of the cancer. Last week the cancer spread to Gibson’s lungs and spine. Gibson’s sad owner had to make the hard decision to put his beloved friend down. Gibson was seven years old. NBC Bay Area reports:

“Last week Gibson began having trouble using his back legs,” said Dr. Peter Walsh, Gibson’s veterinarian, in a prepared statement. “X-rays showed that the cancer had spread to his spine and his lungs. Ms. Hall made the very difficult decision based on her concern and love for Gibson to have him humanely euthanized. Gibson died peacefully in the loving arms of Ms. Hall.”

Gibson was certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s tallest dog. He was 42.2 inches tall, and when standing on his hind legs is over 7 foot tall. Gibson appeared on the Larry King Live show and worked in the entertainment field. Gibson also released a book, “Gibson Speaks.” His owner Sandy Hall admits that Gibson had help with writing the book of Gibson’s feats. Zoo Too reports:

“Gibson was destined to be, and still is, he’s a certified therapy dog,” Gibson’s owner, Sandy Hall, told Pet Pulse. “He does wheelchair assistance and he does special needs work. But he did nothing but train and go into practical applications for the first two and a half years of his life. “We started off with little nursing homes and our hospital here is only two floors. We live in a small community.”

His memorial site is online.

Women Eat Less When On a Date

Perhaps the best dieting tool for ladies is to eat out with single men. A study by Canada’s McMaster University shows women eat less calories when dining with men than alone or with other women.

Scientists have confirmed what men have known all along, women order a salad instead of a steak when they are on a date. The study was recently published in the international journal Appetite. When women are dining out with men, either alone or in a mixed-gender group they order smaller caloric meals than when they are dining with other women. The less men in the dining picture the more hearty a meal will be ordered by a lady. When dining with men in a group the average woman’s meal was 450 calories compared to the 700 to 750 calories when dining with other women. Canada.com reports:

“It seems to fit with our intuition. We always hear advice about going on a first date and only eating salad,” said Young, a PhD candidate with the university’s department of psychology, neuroscience and behaviour. “Our hypothesis was that we use food to signal attractiveness: ‘We’re healthy. We’re in good shape. we’re pretty.”

Researchers observed 469 people dining alone, couples and larger groups over four weekdays during one week at three different large cafeterias in Hamilton, Ontario. The observers did scan sampling, observing the room and gathering the data that happens at that moment. The researchers recorded the food items in front of each person other than beverage choice. The teams then converted the caloric information of each meal using data from the dining management of each cafeteria. The researchers at McMaster University believe that this act is a subconscious way to attract a mate. Newslite reports:

“It is possible that small food portions signal attractiveness, and women conform, whether consciously or unconsciously, to small meals in order to be seen as more attractive,” says researcher Meredith Young.

Opinion: Let’s All Get A Kenyan Birth Certificate

Do you have a Kenyan birth certificate? It’s not hard to get one with the Kenyan Birth Certificate Generator. All it takes is a few minutes to fill out the details and you can be Kenyan or make a Birther’s version of President Obama’s birth document.

This past weekend ‘Birther’ Orly Taitz said she had the real birth certificate of President Obama showing Kenya as the nation he was born in. It was a forgery. The real document that she was using was for David Jeffrey Bomford who was born in April 1959 in Australia. Salon reports:

“That is ridiculous. Little old person in Adelaide, the President of the United States. I don’t know whether to laugh about it or not, be worried about it,” Bomford said. “It is interesting, someone from here being involved in a conspiracy — that is so funny …. It’s definitely a copy of my certificate. It’s so laughable it’s ridiculous.”

There is plenty of software on the Internet to produce fake documents. Of course Taitz is not admitting to committing the crime of fraud when it comes to the fake documents that she paraded over the Internet early this week. President Obama’s birth certificate has been public since June 2008. That hasn’t stopped the Birthers from looking into any dark corner to find something that will prove their claims. Each claim gets wilder. Obama is a closet Muslim. Obama is Kenyan. Obama runs with scissors. One day we may even hear a rumor that Obama plays with dolls. Perhaps we should all make our own Kenyan birth certificates and be part of the Birthers’ 15 minutes of fame.

One in Four Tweets Created by Bots?

As many as one in four tweets on Twitter are sent by automated bots but most of those tweets are not spam. Around 32 per cent of all tweets made by the most active Twitter users were generated by machine bots

With most Tweets made by actual humans the social network is not going anywhere soon. It’s estimated that by 2010 there will be over 18 million people worldwide using Twitter. Most Twitter users hail from the United States with 60.6 percent of tweets. The United Kingdom comes in a far second place with only 6.91 percent of users. Japan, Canada and Brazil round out the top five twitter usage. Almost half of those that use Twitter have more than 100 followers. Mashable reports:

We found that 32% of all tweets made by the most active Twitter users were generated by machine bots that posted more than 150 tweets/day. The actual percentage of machine-generated tweets among the most active users is probably higher than 32% because there many bots that update less than 150 times/day.

With over 3 million Tweets a day Twitter users appear to actively use the social network a lot. The average user sends 15 messages a day.

Ontario Living Pink Balloon Event is Slated for September 5

On September 5 The Living Pink Balloon Event will take place at Alderville First Nation Ball Diamond. The goal is 500 people wearing pink t-shirts forming a giant pink balloon in order to give Sick Kid’s Foundation $10,000 for brain research.

The Living Pink Balloon comes from two families dealing with the effects of brain disorders and their want to give back to Sick Children’s Hospital. Last September Hollie Gray, 10, was found unresponsive at her home. Her parents called for help and paramedics quickly took the little girl to the hospital. On route to Northumberland Hills Hospital Hollie’s heart stopped. Hollie was revived. At the hospital a mass was found on her brain. That discovery lead to a quick transfer to Sick Children’s Hospital in Toronto where her parents were told that their little girl was brain dead. The parents were approached by Trillium Gift of Life to discuss organ donation. Hollie’s parents decided that her spirit had to live on in others. Tanya Gray told Digital Journal that the day before her daughter Hollie died from a brain aneurysm she was joking and laughing while watching television with her family. “She had a mild headache the day before. I thought maybe she had the flu. Hollie was such a go-getter kid. She went to bed and just never woke up.” Brenna was diagnosed with craniopharyngioma or pituitary tumor in 2008. She had early symptoms that were unexplained until she had a CT scan after a third seizure. The little girl was taken to Sick Children’s Hospital in Toronto. There she received treatment and is living a near normal life today. The families are asking people to purchase a pink t-shirt by August 20 from The Scissors Edge (1-905-352-2211) and Our House Snack ‘n’ Go in Alderville and at Herbal Magic in Cobourg, Ontario that will be on hand at Sick Kids on September 5 at the hospital. The goal is that 500 people in the t-shirts will help to form a human pink balloon to show recognition for the staff at the hospital. All proceeds will go to brain and behaviour research. Daryl Crowe says, “We understand that there are many causes and people are stretched thin but Sick Kids has touched everyone in some way. So please come out and help us give back.” On September 5 The Living Pink Balloon is hoping to gather 500 people in one place as a symbol of solidarity of support for Sick Kids Foundation wearing pink t-shirts. One giant pink balloon. The September 5 event will feature prizes, BBQ and Pony Rides. The cost is $25.00 a person which includes a Living Pink Balloon T-shirt. The shirts will be available for pick-up at the event. Please reserve your spot by August 20. Tanya Gray is encouraging companies to have teams register along with individuals. All proceeds from the event will go to Sick Kids Foundation.

Central Park Hosts Bed-In For World Peace

The World March for Peace and Nonviolence is holding a bed-in on August 16 for world peace. The celebration is the 40th anniversary of Yoko Ono and John Lennon’s famous bed-in.

The August event is a tribute to John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s cause for world peace. The event will take place at the Cherry Hill Fountain in Central Park at 1 PM. A “Peace Bed” will be in place for musicians and those in attendance to express their thoughts on peace and violence the same way Lennon and Ono did 40 years ago. Yoko Ono has endorsed the project.

Yoko Ono sent this message to the organizers, “Remember, each one of us has the power to change the world. Power works in mysterious ways. You don’t have to do much. Visualise the domino effect. And just start thinking PEACE. The message will circulate faster than you think. It’s Time For Action. The Action is PEACE. Spread the word. Spread PEACE.“

Press representative for World Peace March Nicole Myers told Digital Journal that a new peace song will be recorded live at the event. We Want Peace on Earth will be performed by Mark Lesseraux. The song will be in a special double CD of peace songs being produced by Sony, Myers said. “The new song was written and dedicated to the World March for Peace,” said Myers. Myers was very excited about the event and the upcoming global march for peace. She said that there will be music at the Central Park event. The World March will be held in seven continents starting October 2 in New Zealand. It will go around the world ending on January 2, 2010 in Argentina. If you’re in New York City on August 16 check out this special and timely event.

Opium addictions plague Afghanistan

Afghan families are dealing with a double problem when it comes to poppy fields. With a governmental ban on the production they face prison or poverty. They also have to deal with the huge addictive nature of opium, made from the milk of the plant.

It’s a race against the calendar for British and United States to convince Afghan farmers to replace their yearly poppy crops with another seed. The planting season starts in October. In a nation where the population has become addicted to the drug made from poppies, opium, that will be a hard sell. Farm workers make double the money in poppy fields than when working with other crops. While using lower prices for wheat seeds could have a short term affect for some poppy farms the long term could be an additional problem. As poppy fields are replaced by wheat and fruit fields those who stay in the business will make even more money. When there is less of a product that is desired the price can be jacked up. Opium is part of the Afghan culture. Many areas used it as the common currency. It is grown in most family plots. That has changed as the government enforced a ban on the production of opium though. That ban has put many in this struggling nation in deep debt. Statesman.com reports:

“Now we don’t even have 10 Afghanis ($0.25) to give our children to buy bubble gum,” opium farmer Abdul Hay says. “Before they would go into the field and collect the money themselves.”

With the ban working well in most of the county now only seven of the 34 provinces have large fields. The rest of the nation is dealing with the poverty that the ban put into place with growing anger. Those farmers who could easily take care of their families with one crop of poppies struggle with reduced crop productions. The newer crops that the government suggested require fertilizer and water, two things that poor farmers can not afford.

“See this mustard? It can take care of my family for one month,” says 25-year-old farmer Abdul Saboor, pulling up a shoot of the green plant and snapping it open with his teeth. “When we planted opium in this same plot, it took care of all our expenses for an entire year.”

In many areas of the county entire families are addicted to the drug. Nationwide there are one million addicts according to the United Nations. That number say local drug counselors is at least double. Almost a quarter of the addicts are children and their mothers. Children grow up inhaling the smoke as their parents pass around the pipes. The government has buried their heads in the plentiful sand. CBS reports:

“Even Afghans aren’t aware of this problem, most people thought we were producers not consumption,” said Mohammad Zafar, Deputy Minister of Counter-Narcotics.

Families will use their last coins to buy more opium instead of food. Dirty, hungry children stumble around in an opium daze. The more remote villages are baring the brunt of the addictions. There are no treatment centers around the corner to contend with the effects of the addiction. In most of these small villages it is over a day’s walk to medical help. Opium is their medicine. The Toronto Star reports:

“Opium is our doctor,” says Beg, an addicted villager. “When your stomach hurts, you take a smoke. Then you take a little more. And a little more. And then, you’re addicted. Once you’re hooked, it’s over. You’re finished.”

Opium addictions quickly spread like wildfire through villages. Those addicted have no money to feed their families. Their neighbours provide for them but as they feed more and more they too become poorer. One mother Najiba started to feed her family the powerful drug to keep them from shivering in the cold winter. She brews the opium as a tea, its cheaper than food and she says brings her hungry family some happiness. Families sell their children for another fix. It is an endless cycle for these families. The Star reports:

Mohammad Asef, a health worker at the clinic taking care of Zaihar Pari, says he is worried about the boy’s chances of recovering. “In America people go and get high in the park. In Afghanistan, they do it in the home,” says Asef. “They bring it inside. They burn it on the family stove. Everyone sees. So everyone is affected.”

There is no quick or easy fix for Afghanistan’s poppy problem. Without crops that make more money the farmers will continue to be in debt. Without hundreds of treatment centers focusing on the most remote locations addiction will continue to multiply. Both issues needed to be addressed in the beginning of the ban of poppy production not in the midst of a crisis.

Beads of Courage Help Cancer Kids Take the Next Step

Beads of Courage is an organization that helps children with cancer go the next step. Each bead has a special meaning, from trips to the cancer clinic to radiation treatments.

Beads of Courage is a special program for children facing a hard struggle-cancer. The is out of Tucson, Arizona and implemented in supportive care programs in various children’s hospitals in the United States. When a child is enrolled in the program they are given a membership card and a bead guide. They also receive a length of string and beads that spell their name. As they journey on through their treatments they receive a bead by their health care provider to add onto their string. Kids work for the Purple Heart bead. It means the end is here and they have finished their treatments. Their strings tell the story of their cancer treatment journey. Merry August is one of those children on that journey. She had 256 beads as of July 22, 2009. The fourteen-year-old has been ill since March 5 with acute lymphoblastic/lymphocystic leukemia. As she completes treatments at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia she gets a new bead. There are various ways to become involved in the program. Donations can be made directly on the Beads of Courage website. You can also buy beads on eBay, all proceeds go to the program.

The Peace Corps launches YouTube channel

Jody K. Olsen, the acting director of the Peace Corps, has announced that they have their own YouTube channel. The agency is also on Twitter and has a newly designed website.

The Peace Corps channel launched with 45 videos about the agency and their current projects around the world. It also has videos that deal with the history of the organization, founded by President John F. Kennedy and Sargent Shriver.

“The YouTube channel is an excellent resource for anyone considering Peace Corps service to better understand what Peace Corps service is really like on the ground,” said acting Director Olsen.

During the first week the Peace Corps channel had about 1,000 viewers.

Survival Tip: Heart Attack Patients Need To Be Cooled

In what could seem like a tale from of a science fiction book. the best way to protect a heart attack patient is by putting them on ice. Many hospitals have not begun to practice the procedure though.

When minutes can mean life or death going to the right hospital is just as important. The practice of cooling takes a recent heart attack patient’s body temperature down to 91 degrees for 24 hours. There is a good reason for this, the body doesn’t require the same amount of oxygen at this temperature. In the case of cardiac arrest almost 90 percent of patients die. When cooling is used those odds quickly change in favor of the patient, almost 37 percent of cooled patients survive. With a technique that’s fairly simply you would think it is being used everywhere, but it’s not. Only 34 percent of critical care doctors and just 16 percent of ER doctors have the equipment that is needed to rapidly cool a body. Hometown Station reports:

“We’ve done cooling measures for quite a long time, but there’s never been a concerted effort to go hospital-wide with the process, so that anyone who has a cardiac arrest in the local community or arrests in the hospital, has the ability to benefit from the protocol,” stated G. Scott Brewster, M.D., director of the Emergency Department at Providence Tarzana. “We’re creating a standardized approach that’s literature-based and coordinated between the Emergency Department and the ICU.”

In the United States that equipment is at less than 300 hospitals out of the more than 6,000 in the nation. The equipment is expensive, costing about $25,000 for a single cooling initially. After the equipment is in place though that cost goes down to about a thousand dollars per patient. 4VF reports:

“It’s a paradigm shift. We’re using this for people whose eyes are yellow, they’re not moving, and you’re telling doctors to cool these people for 24 hours, warm them up for a day, then take them to the cath lab. You’re doing all these things for people who look dead, sound dead and act dead. It’s asking a lot,” Dr. Ben Abella says

Cooling saved Henry Postulart of Toronto. Within two hours of what could have been a fatal cardiac arrest Mr. Postulart’s body temperature was at 91. Although he spent weeks in a medically induced coma Mr. Postulart walked out of the hospital two months after his October 15, 2008 heart attack. Without the cooling the chances are high that he wouldn’t have left the hospital alive. “I don’t exactly remember being cooled but thank God it was there.” This is a personal story, Henry is my husband. The decision for cooling was thrust at me during the first minutes, forms were signed and my husband survived. He is a walking miracle. There are risks. It is possible that the person will suffer another cardiac arrest when the warming process is started. It is possible that the person will not survive the cooling process. What is known though is that the cooling process gives cardiac arrest patients the best chance of survival, both for their heart and in the long term for their brain. The brain is affected by the loss of oxygen during cardiac arrest. Survivors generally have some form of brain injury when they recover. In Canada cooling heart attack patients is much more common than in the United States. Cardiac patients are transported to the closest hospital with the means to do the procedure as a norm, at least in Toronto.

Florida’s Home Grown Pot Trade Booming

Florida is the leader in indoor marijuana cultivation in the United States. The crops are hydroponic marijuana, grown without soil, giving it the highest level of THC marijuana on the market.

In 2008 there were 1,022 grow-ops busted in the state, up from the previous year’s 480. The average THC in the found crops was at 25 percent. Considering that the pot of yesteryear was at 7 per cent THC, it’s easy to understand that this is a potent plant. When grown indoors marijuana doesn’t have to deal with night hours, lights are used to nourish the plants 24 hours a day. The fertilizers that are used help hasten the growth and the THC levels in the plants. A pound of home grown marijuana can fetch $4,000 on the street in Florida. In other areas, that same crop can make it’s growers up to $8,000. Grow-ops generally have four crops a year. Police rely on tips to break up the indoor farms. One type of informant is the electric company. In one case an employee in Polk Country was sent out to shut down the power for nonpayment. When he heard a generator running in the backyard that day and on a following Monday he asked a person at the home about it. Or tried to, the man refused to comment so he called the sheriffs. That call led to one “sophisticated marijuana grow operation” being shut down. For growers the Internet is a hotbed of information on how to grow hydroponic marijuana. Many sites give step-by-step details on how to plant and harvest, from seed choice to what lighting is the best to use. The police know they may be fighting a long-term battle. As Time reports:

Captain Joe Mendez from the South Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area says, “If the economic downturn remains as it is, I don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel.”

Study shows both genders at risk for violence at university

A study led by Elizabeth Saewyc from the University of British Columbia found that nearly one in five students in university experience physical or emotional violence, often the result of alcohol.

The study was published in the June issue of Journal of Adolescent Health. The research found that 17 per cent of men and 16 per cent of women had reported some form of violence in the past six months while at university. The University of British Columbia reports:

“Whether it’s from intimate partners or relative strangers, violence has a significant effect on young people’s health,” says Saewyc, a professor in the School of Nursing and lead author of the study. “At university, the stress from experiencing violence can affect students’ grades, their mental health, even their long-term physical health. When nearly one in five young people report recent violence, that’s a serious concern for campus health services.”

Both genders reported that intimate partners were the aggressors in almost half of the emotional abuse and 20 per cent of the physical abuses. At the university level both genders are equal when it comes to being the victim of violence. Saewyc worked with researchers at the University of Wisconsin and University of Washington in Seattle to survey more than 2,000 students for the study. The findings found that alcohol can increase the incidents of violence. One in three women and 59 per cent of the men had consumed alcohol at the time of being victimized. The results of the study could lead to new guidelines for men in university.

“There are established guidelines that recommend screening women for intimate partner violence in routine clinical care on campus, but not for men. This study shows we need the same routine screening for young men, too,” says Saewyc.

The leaders behind the ‘birther’ movement

The Internet has been the site of a group that would like to throw the current president of the United States out of office for not being born in the USA. The group has been dubbed the ‘birthers.’ But who are they and why are they spreading lies?

The ‘birthers’ are a few men that are intent on using the Internet as a means of spreading lies about President Obama’s birth. While his birth certificate has been approved and the fact that security clearance would be required in a bid for the highest office in the land these people are trying to create discord in the nation. Anthony Martin of Chicago was the first to head to court demanding to see the original birth certificate in Hawaii. He was denied. Perhaps had he been allowed the ‘birthers’ would have faded away with their tails between their legs. Instead the movement grew. Anthony not only went on the rampage over Obama’s nation of birth but tossed out to the media that Obama’s religion background was Muslim. The Kansas City Star reports:

“I would like to claim the role of ringmaster in this birth certificate circus,” Martin said last week on his Web site. “From the first day I began writing about Barack Obama’s secret life five years ago, Obama has obstructed access to the truth about himself. Obama’s sycophants in the media and government have tried to protect him from the truth and the facts of his life.”

While Martin admits that he has doubts about the claims to a Kenyan birth he has not stopped his online campaign. Martin is also known for his anti-Sematic comments.

“I am able to understand how the Holocaust took place, and with every passing day feel less and less sorry that it did.”

Ms. Orly Taitz is another on the “birthers’ wagon. She is a lawyer and dentist out of Orange County, Califorina. She has the means to not only file lawsuits but to travel around the nation spouting her claims that Obama is not a citizen. She also asks for people to fund her accounts on PayPal. She is behind the lawsuit where an officer in the Army Reserve wanted to not serve in Afghanistan because of the birthers claims. The Army excused the man saying he could back out because he was a volunteer. Taitz claims she has proof of a Kenya birth but won’t show it. The Kansas City Star quotes her:

“I don’t need to prove anything,” she said. “He’s the one that needs to provide proper evidence that he is qualified to be president.”

Another lawsuit filer is Philip Berg of Pennsylvania. He’s known for his conspiracy theories, including a lawsuits against every male Bush for two generations for the government’s alleged involvement of the 2001 attacks (9/11). He is also against Taitz saying that she should be disbarred. Jerome Corsi fights as a birther with the pen. He’s a writer at WorldNetDaily. There is now a ‘breaking news’ story on a Kenyan birth certificate.

“It’s a fake document,” he said on Fox News. “I’m convinced it’s a forgery,” he said on Blogtalkradio.com.

Corsi was one of the authors of “Unfit for Command.” The book attacks John Kerry, one of the 2004 Democratic presidential nominees. He doesn’t just give it to the Democrats though, targeting Bush for allegedly surrendering U.S. sovereignty to the new North American Union. The union would put the three nations of North America into one governing body. These people though could not have spread their views without help. The movement also shows the power of the Internet when it comes to gathering like minded people in smear campaigns. Not only is the Internet pushing the ideas onto the public. CNN has been known to host the leaders. Rush Limbaugh has joked about the questions over where Obama was born. This movement doesn’t appear to be going away soon. Those behind it are known for filing lawsuit after lawsuit. The question is will they make a huge difference in the general population.

Bloggasm’s Simon Owens Talks Citizen Media, Blogging

Bloggasm is a site that really shows the way of modern journalism. Run by Simon Owens, a 25-year-old former newspaper journalist, it hits today’s media issues with Owens’ special style.

Owens is no slouch when it comes to journalism. He writes on a regular basis for PBS’s Media Shift. The blog, Bloggasm was named in 2008 as one of PC Magazine’s favorite blogs. Focusing on media subjects Owens recently tackled the rumors about Sarah Palin divorcing and questioned the ethics behind repackaging news articles. Mr Owens took the time to discuss his views on citizen journalism, his site and online journalism. KJ- Why did you go digital journalism from print? SO- Well in many senses I was immersed in the online blogging world well before I became a print journalist. I started my first blog when I was a freshman in college and then launched one that began conducting original interviews when I was a junior, and even as a print journalist I secretly maintained Bloggasm, staying sometimes up until 2 in the morning after work interviewing sources and trying to break stories. Eventually it got to the point where I had made so many contacts within the blogging world that I got some job offers and jumped into the digital realm completely. KJ- Digital Journal is comprised of both professional and citizen journalists. What do you think of citizen journalists? SO- I find myself between the new media evangelists and the old media curmudgeons. I think that citizen journalism has a fascinating role in how information spreads and yet being immersed within the blogosphere daily I get frustrated with the sheer amount of misinformation and shoddy blogging that goes on — I think the traditional journalism filter does do something to battle that, though traditional journalism has its own problems that citizen journalism helps counteract. KJ- Bloggasm is a really cool site, I see you launched it prior to graduating. Has the focus changed since that time? SO- Oh yes, it wasn’t a very good site when it first launched, I had an idea that it would just feature Q and A interviews with prominent bloggers, and so they were just conducted via email and weren’t very specific or interesting. But as I began working as a print reporter and learning how to break news, conduct good interviews and weave them into a narrative, I thought: “Why couldn’t I do this for my blog?” I also got incredibly adept at getting my stories to spread using blogger outreach (I now do digital PR utilizing these skills) and so I began publishing feature-length stories, getting really good scoops and interviews having to do with online media. KJ- I read that you do marketing articles at times. Would you write a positive piece for something that you completely disagree with? SO- I’ve done digital PR outreach for clients that I wasn’t 100% behind. I doubt I would do anything on my blog along these lines without any kind of full disclosure, I tend to not ever write about clients on my blog anyway. Maybe “not 100% behind” is a bad phrase, more like it was a political issue I was somewhat indifferent on. KJ- Are you able to support yourself as an online journalist? SO- That’s the plan. Basically my blog is a “loss leader,” in that I don’t make much direct revenue on it (I do sell ads, though I don’t think I’ll make much that way). My blog is basically an advertisement for my online media and digital PR skills. If I can get a lot of people to come to it, then a certain percentage of them will need my skills to help spread the word about their product/media outlet/issue and contact me to hire me. KJ- That makes a lot of sense. Last question. What advise do you have for people just starting out in the field of online journalism? SO- Keep your blog layout simple and easy to read. Make your contact info readily available (you’d be surprised how many don’t do this) in case some kind of scoop lands in your inbox. Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty and actually pick up a phone and call a source, because 99% of your competition will take the easy route, giving you a leg up. That’s good advice from Mr. Owens. As traditional media moves closer to digital media the old tricks of the trade like confirming sources are as needed as much they ever were. Pulling up your sleeves and doing the hard work will in time see citizen and digital news have the same weight as old school print journalism.

BNO News covers breaking news via Twitter

BNO News is a news source that targets breaking and developing stories world-wide. Using the Twitter phenomenon this group of journalists and news hounds are bringing breaking news to the masses with amazing speed.
BNO News is a popular Twitter resource for journalists. They have a knack of getting the newest information much sooner than many other sources on the Internet. By following their twitter feed, journalists have the beginnings of breaking news stories to be on the look out for, often hours before press releases have been distributed to news agencies.
Many people are flocking to BNO’s Twitter feed; at last count, it enjoys 905,399 followers. CNN’s Breaking News feed is still more popular, at 2.4 million followers.
BNO can thank Osama bin Ladin for jumpstarting their service. In September 2007 founder Michael van Poppel got an unpublished videotape of bin Laden which he sold to Reuters. He realized he was sitting on a gold mine and started structuring a breaking news service using his Twitter account. Within months, BNO was providing 24/7 news updates.
Using a very efficient system to process breaking news, Van Popple and his staff are able to get the freshest news, sometimes within minutes of the event.
In 2009 Van Popple founded bnonews.com with more than 16,500 members. Michael van Poppel, from the Netherlands is just 20 years old.
BNO News’s editors are journalists from the Netherlands, Mexico and the United States.
Theeditors get the news they send out in Tweets from news wires like AP, Reuters, AFP and other reputable sources. They also do their own research.
By not waiting for official confirmation, they pass on the information allowing journalists and news hounds to do further investigations on their own. While this method can be a risk, BNO News is often the first source of breaking news for journalists.
While Van Poppel did not study journalism, his staff have.
At this time BNO is not making any money providing their source. The company does plan on using advertising in the future though in order to support the site.

Opinion: Social Networking and the non tech girl

What’s a girl to do with all the social networking places littering the Internet Highway? Should I tweet or bare my soul on LiveJournal? If I go to Facebook will they sell my soul or am I too old to MySpace and all that Indie music?
Should I set my life to video and have my own channel at YouTube?
For those of us who aren’t the web monkey type which areas on the web are safe or which ones will come back to destroy my chances of future employment?
Because I report at times on social media junkets it doesn’t mean I am up-to-date on the behind the scene action. I know what I like and what is easiest to navigate though.
The best advice for anyone hopping down the social networking jungle trails is to be cautious. Your future bank account could depend on it. Employers and the police are now tiptoeing around checking people out using the Internet. While posting that cute picture of you flashing the party during the weekend may seem like a great idea realize that not only your friends but your co-workers and future employers may question your off time ventures.
That advice is good for anywhere you travel on the web. While you may feel like it’s the best place to express all of your inner secrets because no one can ’see’ you in reality those secrets can be exposed rather easily.
Social networking is a wonderful tool to keep up-to-date with friends, family and co-workers. You can use the sites as tools to further your career and stay connected to those that live far away.
Understand though that for all the positive activities that there rules of engagement. Don’t post anything that would cause you to question employing someone else about yourself and if you do something a bit rash like smoking marijuana it’s not in your best interest to broadcast it to the world.

Food Science Exhibit comes to the Ontario Science Centre

Attention Toronto foodies, the Ontario Science Centre is bringing top chefs in during this summer’s weekends to show off the science that lurks in your kitchen.
The weekend program will be featuring local produce as the chefs prepare recipes and centre researchers discuss the scientific processes involved when it comes to creating culinary masterpieces in your kitchen. Dietitians will also be on hand to explain the importance of nutritional elements of the recipes, highlighting how they work in your body.
The Food Science –Unearthed schedule is as follows:
-Aug. 15 & 16 Claudio Aprile, Executive Chef and owner, Colborne Lane.
-Aug. 22 & 23 Bob Blumer, Author and host of the TV series Surreal Gourmet and Glutton for Punishment.
Other features of the summer programs include a takeoff of the popular Family Feud game show, Family Food Game Show where teams work together to answer science questions while competing for prizes.
There will be Edible Wildlife Nature Walks to teach visitors how to ID which plants are safe to eat and which ones to stem away from because of toxic values. Killer Food teach participants about foods that contain toxins and how to identify them as to stay healthy in the kitchen. Finally No Food to Waste is an exhibit that teaches about composting, fermentation and bio-digestion.
While the chefs will only be on site during weekends the other aspects of the programs run everyday during the summer.
For more information please visit us at the web page for the Ontario Science Centre.

Tiger population falls dramatically in India

A century ago, India’s wild lands were home to about 40,000 tigers. Today, it’s estimated only 1,000 tigers remain as a result of poachers and big game hunters.
The two reserves, Panna and Sariska National Park, no longer have a tiger population.
Many of the tigers have been lost due to Asia’s demand for tiger bones, claws and skin. The animal parts are used in traditional medicines.
Tigers have also died as a result of electric fences, illegal logging and fighting among the few remaining males.
Panna park, once home to 24 tigers, has had no sightings since January.
The Wildlife Institute of India had stated in 2007 that the nation’s tigers were doing well within the reserves but not in the protected forest areas. At that time it was urged though for measures to be taken to save the species.
National Geographic reported in 2007:

“Indian tigers are not entirely down and out,” said Sujoy Banerjee, head of the species conservation program at the Indian branch of the international conservation organization WWF.”But if we don’t wake up now, the only tigers we will see will be at the zoo.”

The number of tigers surveyed that year seemed to differ from conservation groups and the Indian government. It was stated that the government did not want to report that the number of animals had decreased as much as the wildlife groups had indicated.
As the numbers dwindled in 2008 wildlife experts urged the government to save the felines.
BBC reported then:

“It is now time to act and save tigers from human beings. We have to create inviolate areas for tigers and provide modern weapons to forest guards,” conservationist Valmik Thapar told Hindustan Times newspaper.

Valmir Thapar spoke to the Wall Street Journal about the demise of tigers in his native India.

In India, 18 per cent of the land that is left as forest land. As that land degrades, the water supply also degrades. The disappearance of the tiger is a sign of the destruction of the ecosystem, something that has an impact on the entire animal population including humans.
It is becoming doubtful that the tiger population in India can be saved.
Since as far back as 2005 the nation’s forest ministry sent warning bells to the government but the local authorities did not heed them.
Dr Raghu Chundawat, an independent scientist is one of those who has been sounding alarms. He says that the state government is still refusing to listen to the seriousness of the problem.
Ashok Kumar, deputy chair of the Wildlife Trust of India, believes that India can reverse the population decline with the tigers. “The long-term future of the tiger can be saved.”
That hope is echoed by Madhya Pradesh’s forest minister Rajendra Shukla reports the BBC:

“Panna is our only park which has lost on this count,” he says. “Three of state’s reserve forests – Kanha, Bandhavgarh and Pench – have been adjudged among the best managed tiger reserves in the country.”

That statement though may be overly hopeful. Experts believe that the population is already to small for tigers to have a viable future. Even if the population could right itself the lack of law enforcement stopping poachers puts the situation on a downward spiral. Factoring in the ever expanding human population in the tiger’s habitat brings the chance of survival for this magnificent feline down even lower.
Ireland Online reports:

“The government must address the core problem of sufficient protection.
“Unless heads roll, translocation of animals is not going to help as these too might be lost and the situation will not change,” Mr Bhargav, a member of the National Board for Wildlife in India said.

British kids use pets to fool researchers doing exercise study

Children in east London taking part in an exercise study by Mile End Centre for Sports and Exercise Medicine decided to let their pets do their walking. The clever children attached their pedometers to their dogs collars.
Researchers were surprised at the activity levels for some of the obese children that were in the study. After a week the scientists discovered why the 11 to 12-year-olds were still obese even with extremely active pedometer readings, the kids had let their dogs do their walking.
The study of about 200 east London children was compromised with the tricky kids. Still researchers were able to gather enough information to show that the kids were walking far less than what is recommended by doctors. Boys should be taking 15,000 steps a day. Most of the boys in the Whitechapel study only ran or walked 12,620 steps in a day.
The girls in the study also walked less than the recommended 12,000 steps with an average of 10,150 steps.
The borough of Tower Hamlets where the children reside have an 11 percent higher than national average of being overweight or obese.
Researchers are planning on expanding the study in the area, minus the dogs this time around.

Modern Queen Elizabeth Twitters With the World

Queen Elizabeth II is now on Twitter. Anyone now can follow the Queen of England to keep up to date on the royal family.
While Her Royal Highness may be using the social networking site, don’t expect to see Tweets about her personal opinions at @TheBritishMonarchy on Twitter.
The queen has used the Internet to connect the royal family and the public since launching a Web site in 1997 for Buckingham Palace. The queen also has her own channel on YouTube.
BBC reports that a spokeswoman for the Queen said that the royal family will not be doing the Tweet updates themselves.

“The intention,” she explained, “is that it is a news service rather than a personal voice.”

Recent Tweets from the Queen’s page include the Prince of Wales presenting the The Queen’s Gallantry Medal to Sgt. Billy Owen and A Garden Party guest at Buckingham Palace escapes from the torrential rain, 7 July 2009.

Philly swim club may see a racial discrimination lawsuit soon

Valley Club in Huntingdon Valley is accused of refusing to allow black children from a day camp to swim. The children allegedly heard members of the club make racial comments about them while they were at the pool.
The parents and staff from Creative Steps Inc. are considering legal action directed at the Valley Club.

There are 65 campers that are part of the Creative Steps day camp. The children are African American and Hispanic.

On June 29 the campers arrived at the private swim club around 3:30 p.m. on a first visit. The camp had made arrangements for the children to swim at the club on Mondays through August 10.

Three campers came up to Alethea Wright, the executive director, on that first visit saying that they had heard members of the swim club asking what African Americans were doing at their club.

NBC Philadelphia reports:

“When the minority children got in the pool all of the Caucasian children immediately exited the pool,” Horace Gibson, parent of a day camp child, wrote in an email. “The pool attendants came and told the black children that they did not allow minorities in the club and needed the children to leave immediately.”

The children were upset but they remained at the pool for the time that had been scheduled. Wright approached the club president John Duesler about the event and he seemed to be sorry for the incident.

On Friday July 3 the camp received a refund for the $1,950 they had paid in membership fees to the swim club. The children no longer were allowed access on Mondays.

There was no reason given for the refund.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports on a statement given from Duesler:

“There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion . . . and the atmosphere of the club.”

The pool that the camp had previously used, New Frankford Community Y closed last month because of a lack of funds.

The camp is a 20-minute drive away from the swim club.

Campers also use the indoor door at the Jewish Community Center in Philadelphia twice a week but had wanted the children to also have time at an outdoor pool.

DJ Casey Kasem Retires ‘American Top 20′

Casey Kasem has counted down his last top 20 radio hits this past weekend. The show “American Top 20″ is retiring after a 39 year run.
ABC reports:

“We began the weekend of July 4, 1970, and after 39 years this will be our final countdown,” Kasem said matter-of-factly on his “American Top 20″ radio show over the weekend.

Kasem, 77, didn’t give any other advance warning that the show was over than a small press release that went virtually unseen.

Kasem has been one of the biggest names in the world of radio along with the likes of Wolfman Jack and Alan Freed.

ABC reports:

“Casey Kasem … Dick Clark … I really felt like these guys were a part of my family. You get this connection when you’re listening to them or when you’re watching them,” said Ryan Seacrest, who took the mic as host of Kasem’s signature “American Top 40″ show five years ago. Kasem continued to host two spinoffs, “American Top 20″ and “American Top 10.”

On Saturday Kasem signed out how he had for the past 39 years, “Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.”

While new broadcasts will not be coming there will be weekly rebroadcasts of Kasem’s programs from the 1970s and 1980s airing on more than 200 radio stations.

Flickr announces new ‘Flickr 2 Twitter’ service

When Internet giants Flickr and Twitter team up, it’s huge news. Today the two photo-sharing site Flickr and the social networking site Twitter are announced the latest feature dubbed “Flickr 2 Twitter.”
The new feature allows Flickr users to automatically post images to Twitter. A press release from Yahoo (the company that owns Flickr) says, “Once authorized, members will be able to tweet photos from the “Blog This” button on their photo page or from their mobile devices.”

User’s photostreams be visible on their Flickr account, and their Twitter account will be updated in real-time with a fancy new Flic.kr shortened URL.

The feature has been in the beta testing for several weeks as Yahoo was gathering feedback from members. Today “Flickr 2 Twitter” is available for the more than 39 million Flickr members.

In order to use “Flickr 2 Twitter” members have to authorize Flickr to post to their Twitter accounts. After the authorization has taken place all members have to do when uploading new photos is select the “Blog This” button.

Flickr has also joined Twitter, so Twitter members can follow them at @flickr.

LA School Superintendent Upset With GQ’s Bruno Photo Shoot

Sacha Baron Cohen is getting some harsh words after a photo shoot at a local Los Angeles high school was described as pornography. The school and its football players posed for the magazine in what is being called “soft porn.”
Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Ramon Cortines is not happy with the recent GQ spread featuring Birmingham High School.

Cohen was dressed as his gay character “Bruno” for what GQ is calling its comedy issue. The shoot which Cortines says that the district allowed local students to be “used” features Cohen as Bruno wearing just shoulder pads, tight red shorts, an athletic cup and the football team of Birmingham High School.

Eyewitness News reports that Cortines has bigger issues though than the photo spread. The Los Angeles school district is dealing with huge budget cuts and layoffs.

ABC Local reports:

“The school board should concentrate on other things, like trying to keep their schools running correctly, without worrying about little problems like this,” said Mickey Schechter, Malibu Lake resident.

The GQ issue features Cohen on the cover. The Cohen interview was given in character, presenting a serious conversation with a decidedly Bruno twist. One area covered is style tips by Bruno for those on a budget as Softpedia reports:

“Times are hard, but if you shop around und are prepared to vear some things twice before throwing zem avay, it is still possible to look good on a clothing budget of about $20,000 a veek. Ich mean, obwiously you vill need a bit more zan zat if you are planning on leaving ze house.”

Canadian HIV vaccine ready for human testing

A vaccine for HIV/AIDS developed in Canada is at the human testing stage after passing safety tests in animals. Researchers are now waiting for the United States to approve the human trials.
CBC reports:

“It is a very important milestone for us,” said Yong Kang, a professor of microbiology at the University of Western Ontario in London who has been working on the vaccine for 20 years.

According to Yong Kang this vaccine has the potential of saving millions of lives. AIDS has killed more than 25 million people and more than 40 million people are living with the virus since it was first discovered in 1981.

Canadians for Health Research reports:

“We created a genetically modified HIV and recombinant human adenoviruses to develop a vaccine which can prevent HIV infection and clear HIV-infected cells. It can produce antibodies against HIV and educate one type of white blood cells to find infected cells and kill them,” explains Kang. “We hope the vaccine will not only prevent HIV infection, but that it can be used as an immuno-therapeutic agent.”

It is expected that the FDA will allow for the testing to begin shortly. The United States trials will include toxicology tests and two phases of clinical trials.

The vaccine is being manufactured in a Maryland lab while the FDA approval is being waited on.

Within a decade the vaccine could be available to the public if the human trials are successful. Kang believes that the vaccine could be on the market in as little as three years for therapeutic use and then as a preventive vaccine within six years.

There have been several vaccines that have been developed and undergone animal testing. Few of those vaccines make it to the human test trials and of those there have yet to be a successful human vaccine produced.

A potential vaccine by Merck and Co. in 2007 had to be shut down after those in the trial contracted HIV at a higher rate than those who received the placebo.

The toxicology tests are planned for 40 to 50 HIV-positive volunteers in the United States. The test is designed to see if the vaccine is toxic in humans.

Kang has been the Dean of Science at The University of Western Ontario since 1992.

Argentine Ants Take Over The World

A single mega-colony of ants has been able to filter into much of the world according to scientists. The inter-related colony that have spread across Europe, the United States and Japan refuse to fight each other.
The Argentine ant was first identified in 1866 at Buenos Aires, Argentina by German entomologist Dr. Gustav L. Mayr .

The colony of ants could rival humans when it comes to world domination. They are unwittingly getting help by people in their world growth. The Linepithema humile are native to South America but people have introduced ants to every continent in the world except for Antarctica.

Known for forming large colonies and attacking native animals and crops an Argentine ant colony can span over 3,700 miles. That is the size of the colony that has formed along the Mediterranean coast. There is a 560 mile long colony in California and another large colony that is along the west coast of Japan.

The ants can cause havoc with the ecosystem by killing off native small animals and plants. They are a menace to farmers as they will protect aphids and scale insects from predators and parasitoids. For this protection the ants are rewarded with an excretion known as honeydew.

The fact that these colonies will not fight each other is very rare in the ant world. Researchers testing the ants chemical profile have found that the world-wide colony is from a single colony in South America.

Because the ants are not aggressive with each other they have been able to expand into such large super colonies.

A new colony can be formed with as few as 10 worker ants and a single queen ant.

The death of a young chef sparks protests in Shishou City

The death of a young man in the Hubei Province of China is sparking protests. As many as 70,000 people have barred the police from removing the body of a young man who fell to his death from a third floor at a local hotel in Shishou City.
The public has been protesting what they believe is governmental corruption, torture and murder.

On June 17 the young man’s body was found in front of the Yonglong Grand Hotel’s entrance. On June 20 a Public Security Office released a statement about the incident.

The dead man is Tu Yuangao, a chef, who had left behind a suicide letter. The preliminary medical exam found no other fatal wounds on the body and ruled out murder. The family rejected attempts by the police to remove the body for an autopsy.

Eyewitnesses report that they saw no blood on the ground but did see blood clots around the man’s mouth, nose and ears. They also reported that the lower body of the man showed signs of severe torture.

The family was offered $5,200 on June 18 as compensation if they confirmed that their relative had indeed committed suicide. They were told if they did not the body would be taken away by force and cremated that evening.

The father of Tu Yuangao, 24, refused the offer. He said that he had cans of chemicals and that he would kill himself and anyone else who attempted to seize his son’s body.

By June 19 there were 2,000 people who had gathered around the hotel to help the father’s desire that the authorities not remove the body. The entrance to the hotel had been blocked to prevent the police to enter. Over a dozen people were beaten and taken to a detention center without receiving medical treatment.

Chinese media goes against these reports saying that there were no injuries during the protest.

China Daily reports:

“A handful of people have been detained, but I don’t know if they will be charged or given detention,” an official from Jingzhou publicity office surnamed Xiong, said yesterday.

That only served to fuel the anger of the people.

Radio Free Asia reports:

“We believe this may relate to some kind of illegal activities and drug issues going on in the hotel that resulted in the deaths of certain people. There have already been five mysterious homicide cases at the hotel, but only two cases have been solved,” Huang, one of the protesters said.

By that afternoon there were as many as 40,000 people on the streets near the hotel. The protesters were said to be throwing bricks and bottles at the police.

By early evening riot police had arrived on the scene using water hoses on the crowds. The crowd instead of leaving destroyed the fire trucks supplying the water. The riot police then used tear gas on the crowd.

On June 20 China’s media Xinhua released a report titled Many Departments in Hubei’s Shishou City Jointly Organized a Fire Drill for Vehicle Fires.

Bloggers reports on the incident from within China were removed by the government.

According to those that reside in Shishou there have been at least two other mysterious deaths at the same hotel. One took place in 1999 and the other in 2007.

Those in the city say that the hotel is a hotbed of criminal activity. It is believed that the young chef knew of secrets and those secrets cost him his life.

There are reports that the body of Tu Yuangao has been removed by the police but there is no confirmation on this report.

Radio Free Asia reports:

“A lot of armed police came and took the body away,” another protester said. “They detained a few people as well.”

“They persuaded the family to let it go after they agreed to go through a formal autopsy. We were just watching from the outside. At one point there were around 10,000 of us,” he said.

Shanghai Daily reports that the body was cremated at 4am and a funeral was held around 9:30am on Thursday.

Saaed Mortazavi To Oversee Iran protesters questioning

Saaed Mortazavi has been empowered to interrogate leaders of Iran’s governmental opposition. Mortazavi is responsible for helping keep a stranglehold on media news in Iran.
The government’s use of Mortazavi, also known as “Butcher of the press” and “torturer of Tehran,” is sending warning alarms to human rights watchers. Mortazavi has been the prosecutor of Iran since 2003.

Mortazavi was behind Roxana Saberi’s arrest earlier this year. His name is also linked to the arrest, torture, rape and death of Canadian photographer Zahra Kazemi.

Times Online reports:

Reporters without Borders concurs: “It was Mortazavi who was chiefly responsible for Canadian-Iranian press photographer Zahra Kazemi’s death.”

Mortazavi has been behind the closure of 100 newspapers in Iran. He is also reponsible for bloggers and journalists being arrested and in some cases killed.

Raw Story reports:
[quote“I have no doubt that these protesters will be treated just as brutally as Ms. Kazemi, maybe worse,” said Shahram Azam, a doctor who, in 2005, testified to a Canadian court that Kazemi had been tortured.

Protesters who are being detained by Iran after the recent election could be face to face with Saaed Mortazavi.

Cafe Sentido.com reports:

“The leading role of Saeed Mortazavi in the crackdown in Tehran should set off alarm bells for anyone familiar with his record,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, the Middle East and North Africa director of Human Rights Watch.

Mortazavi has been a central figure in Iran’s crackdown on dissenters. He has seen to the arrest of aides to the top opposition figures.

Mortazavi is said to have a history of detaining women for “immodest” clothing.

It is said that the government’s use of Mortazavi shows that they will be ruthless to crush the uprising in Tehran.

Jackson said to be in good shape the night before he died

How could a man who appeared on the top of the world and full of energy one night drop dead of a sudden cardiac arrest the next day? Those who with Jackson prior to his death say he was in good shape the night before he collapsed at his home.
Jackson was working with a personal trainer in order to prepare for the shows. According to those who were working on the show Jackson was involved in every step of the process, from choreography to watching auditions of the dancers.

Those who were with Jackson on the night prior to his death are saying that the singer was happy and in good shape as he prepared from 50 shows in London at rehearsals in Los Angeles.

Kenny Ortega, the director of Jackson’s show says that he stood side by side with Jackson as they beamed with ‘gladness’ about the upcoming concerts.

Magician-comedian Ed Alonzo echoes Ortega’s feelings of the eve of Jackson’s death.

Nine MSN reports:

Another member of the rehearsal, magician-comedian Ed Alonzo, added: “He didn’t even take a moment to grab a bottle of water or take a rest. He went from one number to the other. ‘Let’s do that again.’

“He looked great and had great energy. He wasn’t singing at full level, but it was as beautiful as ever.”

Max Miller is another who was at the last rehearsal. Miller, a dispatch manager at the studio observed Jackson practice the transition routine between two songs with no music.

The Age reports:

“He was totally dancing like top-notch. He seemed totally good,” Miller said.

“He seemed totally cool and really focused.”

Ken Ehrlich, executive producer of Grammy Awards, had a business meeting with Jackson at the studio on Wednesday night. He is said to have been amazed by the vitality and focus Jackson had as he practiced moves with his backup dancers.

The Age reports:

“There was this one moment, he was moving across the stage and he was doing these trademark Michael moves, and I know I got this big grin on my face, and I started thinking to myself, ‘You know, it’s been years since I’ve seen that,”‘ he said.

“There was that Michael that was just like no one else and no one else could touch,” he said.

“The shame is that new generation won’t see that – but we all came close to being able to see it again.”

Less than 12 hours after the rehearsal ended Jackson was in cardiac arrest. He collapsed at his home with his personal physician, Conrad Murray present. Dr. Murray is a cardiologist who was hired by AEG Live to be with Jackson in London during his series of concerts.

Murray’s employment is not a common practice in the show business world as The Guardian reports.

“As a company we would have preferred not having a physician on staff full-time because it would have been cheaper without the hotels and travel, but Michael was insistent that he be hired,” Phillips told the Associated Press. “Michael said he had a rapport with him.”

The actual cause of death is yet to be determined but many are speculating that Jackson had a heart attack. There are also reports that drugs could have been a factor in his death. Because of that, Murray’s car has been seized by the police. The police believe that it could contain drugs or other evidence. Murray is not considered a criminal suspect in the case.

The shows have multiple insurance policies that covered them in case of cancellation. That coverage may very well though depend on what the toxicology results are.

The Guardian quotes his older brother Jermaine’s announcement of Michael’s death.

“My brother, the legendary King of Pop Michael Jackson, passed away on Thursday 25 June 2009 at 2.26pm,” he told a press conference at the hospital.

“It is believed he suffered cardiac arrest in his home. However, the cause of his death is unknown until results of the autopsy are known.

“His personal physician who was with him at the time attempted to resuscitate my brother, as did the paramedics who transported him to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Centre. Upon arriving at the hospital at approximately 1.14pm, a team of doctors including emergency physicians and cardiologists attempted to resuscitate him for a period of more than hour, and they were unsuccessful.”

The Reverend Jesse Jackson is saying that Jackson’s family also said that the singer was in good health prior to his death.

The death of a young chef sparks protests in Shishou City

The death of a young man in the Hubei Province of China is sparking protests. As many as 70,000 people have barred the police from removing the body of a young man who fell to his death from a third floor at a local hotel in Shishou City.
The public has been protesting what they believe is governmental corruption, torture and murder.

On June 17 the young man’s body was found in front of the Yonglong Grand Hotel’s entrance. On June 20 a Public Security Office released a statement about the incident.

The dead man is Tu Yuangao, a chef, who had left behind a suicide letter. The preliminary medical exam found no other fatal wounds on the body and ruled out murder. The family rejected attempts by the police to remove the body for an autopsy.

Eyewitnesses report that they saw no blood on the ground but did see blood clots around the man’s mouth, nose and ears. They also reported that the lower body of the man showed signs of severe torture.

The family was offered $5,200 on June 18 as compensation if they confirmed that their relative had indeed committed suicide. They were told if they did not the body would be taken away by force and cremated that evening.

The father of Tu Yuangao, 24, refused the offer. He said that he had cans of chemicals and that he would kill himself and anyone else who attempted to seize his son’s body.

By June 19 there were 2,000 people who had gathered around the hotel to help the father’s desire that the authorities not remove the body. The entrance to the hotel had been blocked to prevent the police to enter. Over a dozen people were beaten and taken to a detention center without receiving medical treatment.

Chinese media goes against these reports saying that there were no injuries during the protest.

China Daily reports:

“A handful of people have been detained, but I don’t know if they will be charged or given detention,” an official from Jingzhou publicity office surnamed Xiong, said yesterday.

That only served to fuel the anger of the people.

Radio Free Asia reports:

“We believe this may relate to some kind of illegal activities and drug issues going on in the hotel that resulted in the deaths of certain people. There have already been five mysterious homicide cases at the hotel, but only two cases have been solved,” Huang, one of the protesters said.

By that afternoon there were as many as 40,000 people on the streets near the hotel. The protesters were said to be throwing bricks and bottles at the police.

By early evening riot police had arrived on the scene using water hoses on the crowds. The crowd instead of leaving destroyed the fire trucks supplying the water. The riot police then used tear gas on the crowd.

On June 20 China’s media Xinhua released a report titled Many Departments in Hubei’s Shishou City Jointly Organized a Fire Drill for Vehicle Fires.

Bloggers reports on the incident from within China were removed by the government.

According to those that reside in Shishou there have been at least two other mysterious deaths at the same hotel. One took place in 1999 and the other in 2007.

Those in the city say that the hotel is a hotbed of criminal activity. It is believed that the young chef knew of secrets and those secrets cost him his life.

There are reports that the body of Tu Yuangao has been removed by the police but there is no confirmation on this report.

Radio Free Asia reports:

“A lot of armed police came and took the body away,” another protester said. “They detained a few people as well.”

“They persuaded the family to let it go after they agreed to go through a formal autopsy. We were just watching from the outside. At one point there were around 10,000 of us,” he said.

Shanghai Daily reports that the body was cremated at 4am and a funeral was held around 9:30am on Thursday.

Collision of two streetcars in Toronto backs up traffic

The streetcar was on its last stop at Spadina and Queen’s Quay in Toronto when it was in an accident with another TTC streetcar. The oncoming train appears to have not been switched properly resulting in a head-on collision.
The two streetcars collided at approximately 2:15 p.m. Saturday afternoon. The area of the accident is a popular tourist destination. The Spadina car connects to a streetcar at the location to carry passengers to the Exhibition. The Harbourfront is also one of the stops on the route.

Jeannie Kazen was on the streetcar when it collided. She and her husband said that there were only about seven others on the TTC vehicle at the time of the collision.

“This is unofficial of course but it appears that the switch was not on right and the cars just hit,” Kazen told Digital Journal.

The TTC employees at the scene refused to comment on the accident. They were busy sweeping up sand along the tracks and readying the street for service to continue.

There were no injuries in the accident.

Child killer found dead in prison cell

A convicted child killer has been found dead from a possible suicide in his New Brunswick prison cell. The man was serving a life sentence for the second-degree murder of Shannon Morrissette, 5, seventeen years ago.
Gleason Bennett Williams died on Thursday as Dorchester Penitentiary in New Brunswick. An investigation has been ordered dealing with the circumstances surrounding his death.

In 1992 the Prince Edward Island native slit the throat of Shannon Dawn Morrissette after strangling her. Shannon was hearing-impaired and unable to speak.

Williams, 54, had been denied day passes by the National Parole Board just two weeks ago. The board has decided that Williams showed little insight concerning his behavior and posed a risk to reoffend.

The family of Shannon is said to be relieved that Williams is no longer a threat. Janet Morrissette was at the prison two weeks ago when Williams was up for the parole hearing. She spoke on her daughter’s behalf on why the man should not be allowed outside of the prison’s walls.

Ms. Morrissette told the National Post her feelings about hearing that Williams was dead.

“My heart started racing. I started thinking, ‘Oh no, he’s appealing [the denied day parole] and I’d have to go back there. All those emotions, in the 30 seconds of answering the phone,” Ms. Morrissette said from her Regina home.

“Then, when they said, ‘We’re victim services. He’s dead,’ I was so relieved.”

Williams was found in his cell during a routine cell check.

CBC quotes Dorchester Institute’s assistant warden Brenda Hastie:

“We found Mr. Williams unresponsive in his cell. Action was taken to, you know, do CPR, take care of him, [but] he was pronounced dead.”

Farrah Fawcett’s famous red swimsuit poster caused a stir

Farrah’s most famous poster in a one-piece bathing suit was not supposed to happen that way. Bruce McBroom was set to shot the actress, then 29, in a bikini but Farrah liked the one-piece because it covered a scar she had gotten as a child.
The poolside shoot was inexpensive by today’s standards. Farrah did her hair with rollers. The backdrop wasn’t an expensive screen but rather an Indian blanket that had been in McBroom’s pickup truck.

The poster was soon a hit among teen boys across the United States. In the first four days it hit the market more than 12 million copies were sold.

Farrah owned the copyright of the image. Thirty years after the poster hit the market she said she was proud of the photo.

Newsday quotes the actress from 2006:

“I was a little self-conscious, probably because my smile is so big,” Farrah had said.

On June 25, Fawcett died after a long battle with cancer. The actress who burst on the scene in the 1970s in the television show Charlie’s Angels was 62.

The drug Demerol may have caused Michael Jackson’s death

Times Online is reporting that Michael Jackson’s death could be linked to the drug Demerol. The singer had an injection of the powerful pain medication just prior to his collapse. One of the risk factors with the medication is cardiac arrest.
Reports coming out from the Jackson camp say that shortly before the singer collapsed he had an injection of the drug Demerol. A source at the scene said that Jackson’s breathing became shallow and slower until it stopped. This is a common effect when an overdose of Demerol occurs.

The drug Demerol is a narcotic closely related to opiod morphine. It’s not a commonly abused substance because it isn’t usually administered outside of the hospital setting.

Jackson had a history with the drug, quite possibly for medical reasons.

There are several side effects of the medication including lightheadedness, dizziness, sedation, nausea, vomiting, sweating, respiratory depression, circulatory depression, respiratory arrest, shock, and cardiac arrest, euphoria, dysphoria, weakness, headache, agitation, tremor, uncoordinated muscle movements, severe convulsions, transient hallucinations and disorientation, visual disturbances, dry mouth, constipation, biliary tract spasm, flushing of the face, tachycardia, bradycardia, palpitation, hypotension, urinary retention. In cases where there has been an overdosage of the drug symptoms include bluish discoloration of the skin, cold and clammy skin, coma or extreme sleepiness, limp, weak muscles, low blood pressure, slow heartbeat, troubled or slowed breathing.

Family lawyer Brian Oxman has confirmed Jackson had trouble with prescription medications he was taking in an effort to deal with his planned London shows.

Kansas City.com reports:

“This was something which I feared and something which I warned about,” Oxman said on CNN. “I can tell you for sure that this is something I warned about. Where there is smoke there is fire.”

An autopsy is planned to be carried out Friday afternoon.

According to Michael’s brotherMarlon Jackson, Jackson was feeling ill and was visited by a doctor the evening prior to his death.

Brother Randy Jackson was with the singer when he collapsed. He was in the ambulance with his brother.

Michael Jackson dealt with several injuries that caused reoccurring pain throughout his lifetime, such as a commercial shoot during the early 1980s. On January 27, 1984 Jackson was rushed to hospital after suffering serious burns to his head and hair during a freak accident on the set.

In 1993, Jackson had an accident during rehearsals for a tour that resulted in back pain for the rest of his life.

According to friend Uri Geller, the stress of a comeback was a factor in the death of Michael Jackson. The Herald Sun quotes Geller:

“He wanted to prove to the world that he is number one, that he is still Michael Jackson, that he can still deliver a thriller,” Geller told BBC radio. “The anticipation, the stress levels, the anxiety for what was coming up in London was so huge … I believe that that stopped his heart”.

Jackson just had a physical that was required by promoters for his upcoming 50-night performance stint. Doctors gave the go-ahead for the show following the exam.

King of Pop Michael Jackson dead at 50

The “King of Pop” music has died at the age of 50 in a Los Angeles hospital. This is a breaking news story. Details will be added as they come in.
According to TMZ, paramedics rushed to Jackson’s home Thursday afternoon. Upon arrival, they found the singer in full cardiac arrest.

A Star Line tourist bus was at the scene when the ambulance carrying Michael Jackson left his home. There was a lot of traffic on the street at Jackson’s residence when the ambulance was taking off from the scene.

According to early reports, Jackson never regained a pulse.

Michael Jackson passed away at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. Outside the hospital a crowd has formed.

It has been confirmed that Jackson never regained consciousness after his collapse. He was en-tubed on route to the hospital.

The cause of death has yet to be determined.

The LA Times has confirmed that Jackson died after arriving to the hospital in a deep coma.

Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana on August 29, 1958. He was the seventh child of Joe and Katherine Jackson.

As a child, Jackson and his brothers performed as the Jackson Five. He left his brothers and went on to be one of the world’s top solo artists in 1971.

Five of his solo albums set world records for best-selling albums: Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991) and HIStory (1995).

The outpouring of support and comments have spread like wildfire across the Internet and through social networks. Former Barenaked Ladies singer Steven Page wrote on Twitter: “Michael Jackson, you saved a very shy and awkward 12-year-old boy in 1983. Thank you.”

Ryan Seacrest reported on Twitter that his sources at UCLA have confirmed that Jackson passed away.

Jackson is survived by his three children: Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince “Blanket” Michael Jackson II.

The news comes as a shock to the entertainment world, who saw actress and Hollywood icon Farrah Fawcett die just hours earlier. Fawcett lost her three-year battle to anal cancer.

Actress Farrah Fawcett dead at 62

Actress Farrah Fawcett died Thursday after a three-year battle with cancer. The actress who burst on the scene in the 1970s in the television show Charlie’s Angels was 62.
Fawcett died this morning at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California. Her long-time partner Ryan O’Neal was at her side.

As People reports:

“She’s gone. She now belongs to the ages,” O’Neal tells PEOPLE. “She’s now with her mother and sister and her God. I loved her with all my heart. I will miss her so very, very much. She was in and out of consciousness. I talked to her all through the night. I told her how very much I loved her. She’s in a better place now.”

Fawcett was discovered while attending the University of Texas. She had a degree in Microbiology.

She met Lee Majors in 1968. They married in 1973. They divorced amid scandal in 1982 after being separated in 1979.

Farrah met her lifetime love Ryan O’Neal in 1981. The couple never married but had a son named Redmond in 1985.

The couple were planning on getting married.

After leaving the show Charlie’s Angels, Fawcett proved her acting ability by taking on gritty dramatic roles. Her portrayal of an abused wife in the 1984 The Burning Bed earned her an Emmy nomination.

Fawcett is survived by her and O’Neal’s son Redmond and her parents.

Kindness Is Not A Photo Op

Celebs are often treated like teenagers in the press, the only time they make the wires is from something they have done that is wrong. Good news doesn’t bring in money. Sometimes though the good guys do good deeds that isn’t for the public display.
Actors are generally good people with creative energy flowing through their souls. They will do as much as they can do for others. Sometimes it’s visible and sometimes it is hidden away. Kindness is not a photo op.

It’s not often written about the good works of celebs. The public would rather hear about who’s doing who and who is a total goon. Those are the stories that sell papers.

Some stars like Ashton Kutcher use social networking in order to gather support for their causes. Kutcher is currently working to end hunger in the United States and using Twitter as a means to get the message across.

Others lend their names to causes to help the donations come in. Some celebs like Michael J. Fox use a condition they have to help others have hope. Michael J. Fox’s foundation is behind many medical breakthroughs for Parkinson’s Disease.

Alyssa Milano has been a huge supporter of the Twitter movement for Eric De La Cruz to get a heart transplant.

There are others though in the world of celebrity that do good works without the need for the media.

As a journalist it’s hard to be silent when the feel good story of the day falls in your lap. I made a promise though to a Hollywood agent. I promised not to reveal the man who brightened the day for a very sick little girl in Toronto. This man’s movies make my little friend laugh. As she battles serious medical issues a laugh is important. Her home for the past two months has been a Canadian hospital. Yesterday was a bad day. When I asked her mother what would make this strong and beautiful child smile she told me an actor’s name. It was an impossible dream.

I don’t believe in the word impossible.

A phone call here, a phone call there. I talked to the man’s agent and told her of a child who was sick. She told me she would talk to the man. She did. My friend talked this evening to her favorite actor.

There was a condition. No media involvement.

This story is real. No names are allowed.

A hero gave a child a giggle tonight.

Miracles do happen.

Jeff Wyonch’s Art Hits The City Running

There’s a new writing photographer in Toronto showing the world the beauty of the city’s art in the form of graffiti. “Artist Welcome” by Jeff Wyonch shows Toronto in a can of paint.
Wyonch has been writing since he can remember breathing and taking photos of Toronto for a number of years.

His photos can be seen on his photostream at flickr under the mysterious name Jape Wisteria. I asked Jeff what his screen name meant:

“Jape is a old time word for prank and Wisteria just fit in perfectly. The wisteria is a very strong flower and artful. It has a manly quality about it. Plus I tend to be a prankster so take that as you will.”

“Artist Welcome” is now back into editing production. Wyonch promises that the next edition will be even better than the first.

For a man who doesn’t consider himself an artist Wyonch has a very artful approach to the world. He sees every space as another extension that can be put under the microscope.

After Jeff puts the finishing touches on “Welcome Artist” he is planning on publishing a book of haiku.

“I have a million ideas and in time hope to have at least one more photography book out. Even though I have written for all of my life I still consider myself new to the craft.”

During the day Jeff works as a User Interface Developer for CBC. He and the others in his department make sure that the Internet side of the CBC run smoothly.

At night and on the weekend the artist emerges. It is a safe bet this prankster’s art will be delighting Toronto and the world for a very long time.

Cheney’s memoir due in 2011

Threshold Editions, a division of Simon and Schuster has signed a book deal with former Vice President Dick Cheney. Cheney’s memoir is due to be released a few months after President George W. Bush’s is due to hit the stores.
The book, yet to be titled will cover his career in government from when he served as President Ford’s chief of staff through his Bush years. The book will also cover Cheney’s involvement as chief executive officer of the oilfield services provider, Halliburton Co.

AP quotes Cheney:

“I’m persuaded there are a lot of interesting stories that ought to be told,” Cheney said. “I want my grandkids, 20 or 30 years from now, to be able to read it and understand what I did, and why I did it.”

Cheney is said to be writing the book in longhand and on his computer with the help of his daughter Liz Cheney.

Generally books written by vice presidents do not attract much public interest. In the case of Dick Cheney however, it is expected that his memoir will be a best seller.

Its speculated that the deal will fetch Cheney about $2 million.

“He knows he’s called Darth Vader,” said Simon & Schuster’s Carolyn Reidy. “He’s aware of how he’s been portrayed. But I didn’t feel any defensiveness when I met with him. I remember thinking, `I can see why four presidents gave him very responsible jobs in their administrations.’”

Iran demands Soltan’s family remove mourning banners

The family of Neda Soltan has been ordered by the authorities in Tehran to remove mourning banners in an effort to prevent the slain teenager from becoming a national martyr.
Soltan was killed while protesting and a video of her apparent murder was uploaded to the Internet.After her death, Soltan’s family placed banners outside their home in Tehran.

Now, the government has asked the family to remove the banner and they’ve also forbidden them from holding a memorial in a mosque, according to Raw Story.

It appears the government is trying to prevent the nation from making Soltan a symbol of the protests in Tehran after a bullet to her heart ended her short life. Neda was with her father when she was shot en route to a demonstration.

New reports say the slain woman was 26. For those in Iran’s government, the woman’s death has become a struggle and local media have not reported it.

While authorities have been able to force the family to hide evidence of the woman’s death, posters bearing Soltan’s face are appearing everywhere in Tehran.

The Times Online quotes Soltan’s friendHamid Panahi:

“We were stuck in traffic and we got out and stood to watch and, without her throwing a rock or anything, they shot her,” he said. “It was just one bullet.”

Panahi said that Soltan’s last words were, “I’m burning! I’m burning!”

Soltanwas planning a career in tourism after obtaining a degree in Islamic philosophy from Azad University in Tehran.

She was laid to rest on Sunday at Behesht Zahra cemetery. The ceremony was quiet after orders were laid out for the family not to sing her praises loudly or to mourn her loss.

The LA Times also quoted Panahi as saying he taught Soltan about music. He said that she was a brave woman passionate about life. She was willing to take a risk for her beliefs, knowing that going to the protest could end her life.

“She couldn’t stand the injustice of it all,” Panahi said. “All she wanted was the proper vote of the people to be counted. “For pursuing her goals, she didn’t use rocks or clubs,” he said. “She wanted to show with her presence that ‘I’m here. I also voted. And my vote wasn’t counted.’ It was a very peaceful act of protest, without any violence.”

Western Companies, Iran, China and the Media Backlash

Siemens AG and Nokia Corp are denying that their technology is being used by Iran to censor and spy on the online activities of their citizens.
Nokia Siemens Network announced on Monday that while Iran’s government did buy telecommunications systems. That equipment according to Nokia Siemens has built-in monitoring technology that will only work on voice communications and not on the Internet.

CBS reports:

“The lawful intercept capability is purely for local voice calls,” spokesman Ben Roome told CBSNews.com. “We don’t know who may have provided other Internet technologies to Iran.”

Any Western company that is linked with the Iranian governments monitoring of its citizens could have lasting business implications.

When Yahoo did business with China Washington’s politicians were quick to attack CEO Jerry Yang. Cisco faced the similar scrutiny when the company sold Internet switches and routes to China.

The Wall Street Journal has gone on the attack against Nokia Siemens Networks concerning Iran. On Monday’s front page the paper proclaimed: “Iran’s Web Spying Aided By Western Technology.”

“We didn’t know they could do this much,” said a network engineer in Tehran. “Now we know they have powerful things that allow them to do very complex tracking on the network.”

This claim can be disputed by the company but the headline will stick with readers during this time of unrest in the Middle Eastern country.

Spokesman for Nokia Siemens Networks, Ben Roome has had to face the accusations from the major news source pointing out the inaccuracies of the article. While there may be faults concerning wiretap-ready mobile phone networking that network has allowed for the rest of the world to hear communications from within the country during this crisis.

“Mobile networks in Iran, and the subsequent widespread adoption of mobile phones, have allowed Iranians to communicate what they are seeing and hearing with the outside world,” he said. “The proof of this is in the widespread awareness of the current situation.”

It is difficult to know what technology is being used by the Iranian government to track their citizens use of the Internet and mobile cell phones. In 2005 a Berkman Center report stated that Iran was using Secure Computing’s SmartFilter to block the use of the Web from its citizens.

At that time company president John McNulty was quoted as saying: “We have been made aware of ISPs in Iran making illegal and unauthorized attempts to use of our software. Secure Computing is actively taking steps to stop this illegal use of our products.”

The software is now owned by McAfee and marketed under the name McAfee SmartFilter.

CBS reports:

“We have never seen any direct evidence or hard proof that Iran has ever used any McAfee or Secure Computing product,” McAfee said in an e-mailed statement on Monday. “McAfee complies with all export laws and regulation applicable to its products. Rigorous due diligence was conducted prior to the acquisition of Secure Computing and there was no indication of any contract in Iran or support being provided in Iran.” (A U.S. economic embargo restricts trade with Iran.)

When nations like Iran purchase such software they can claim it is for lawful activity. Claims that the West is helping them can be a powerful media tool to harm a company’s name.

The reality is that Iran’s ability to monitor and block the Web and cell phone use could be home grown.

The West’s technology has been used though in the past by their own governments to tap citizens.

Jay Botelho, WildPackets’ director of product management, said the best way for an Iranian Internet provider to monitor its customers would be to use one bank of monitoring equipment for e-mail, another for Web browsing, a third for VoIP calls, and so on. “Using our product, the easiest way to monitor everything is to hook onto an (extra port) port off your main switch,” Botelho said. “The problem is that depending on the traffic, that could overload an appliance. But if you slowed everything down, you’d get everything.”

In Iran that does not pose a problem. The country has limited connectivity to the outside and download speeds are much slower than in many other nations.

Providing nations with the ability to allow their citizens to communicate with the outside world can put technology companies in a Catch-22. The network systems have to have filters and those filters can be used in the wrong way by some governments. The alternative is not to provide questionable nations with the equipment but then the citizens are without the media of communication.

There is no easy answer to the dilemma.

MySpace proposed restructuring will slash 300 international jobs

MySpace is restructuring its international operations in order to refocus personnel with a reduced area of territories. MySpace believes it will be able to retain a robust global consumer presence by doing this.
According to a press release from the company, MySpace’s international staff will be cut back from the current 450 international employees to 150. The company also announced four offices outside of the United States would be closed down according to a press release.

The MySpace offices in London, Berlin and Sydney would become the primary hubs for international operations under the proposed plan. Offices in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, India, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Sweden, and Spain would be placed under review for possible restructure.

Since the 2005 purchase of MySpace by News Corp., the company has faced difficulty adding to its user base. Facebook has surpassed MySpace in usage with more than 200 million members compared to the 125 million that are members of MySpace.

Jonathan Miller, the recently appointed CEO of digital media and chief digital officer at News Corporation has stated that MySpace had grew too big when one considered the marketplace in today’s economy.

“With roughly half of MySpace’s total user base coming from outside the U.S., maintaining productive and efficient operations in our international markets is important to users worldwide and our immediate financial strength,” said MySpace Chief Executive Officer Owen Van Natta. “As we conducted our review of the company, it was clear that internationally, just as in the U.S., MySpace’s staffing had become too big and cumbersome to be sustainable in current market conditions. Today’s proposed changes are designed to transform and refine our international growth strategy.”

Last week MySpace announced the company was reducing its staff by 30 per cent within the United States.

Times Online reports:

Owen Van Natta, the chief executive, said: “As we conducted our review of the company, it was clear that internationally, just as in the US, MySpace’s staffing had become too big and cumbersome to be sustainable in current market conditions.”

The total restructured work force for MySpace will go from 1,950 to 1,150.

The MySpace offices in Japan and locally owned MySpace China are not affected by the proposed plan.

New chapter begins for Jon and Kate

The big announcement for Jon and Kate Gosselin’s marriage ending came on Monday night’s episode of the show “Jon & Kate Plus 8.” The announcement wasn’t a surprise to anyone who has watched the media frenzy this year concerning the couple.
The parents of eight talked during the second half of Monday’s airing on their choice to lead separate lives. The pair made it clear the coming divorce is not a result of being media fodder for the past few years.

E! Online reports:

“We haven’t really known where we’re going but we’ve been dealing with this for a long time,” said Kate, 34, after she and Jon managed to get through the construction of the kids’ new playhouses without actually interacting.

“It’s the next chapter—not a chapter that’s been brought on by our show, not a chapter that’s been caused by our career choices at all. I believe that it’s a chapter that probably would have played out had the world been watching or not.”

Instead of uprooting their eight children, the parents will take turns living at their large home.

And the show will go on; Jon & Kate Plus 8 will remain on the airwaves, undoubtedly allowing the public to watch the new chapters of single parents to eight children.

Jon has admitted that while he would like a friendship with Kate, it’s not likely at the moment.

The Toronto Star reports:

“Kate and I have decided to separate,” Jon Gosselin said. “It’s just not good for our kids for us to be arguing in front of our kids. I’m not very fond of the idea personally, but I know it’s necessary because my goal is peace for the kids,” Kate Gosselin said.

The couple stresses they are doing what is best for their children who seem to be oblivious to the stress their parents are going through.

Kate filed for divorce Monday morning in Reading, Pa. to start the conclusion of the couple’s 10-year marriage.

“Over the course of this weekend, Jon’s activities have left me no choice but to file legal procedures in order to protect myself and our children,” she said. “While there are reasons why it was appropriate and necessary for me to initiate this proceeding, I do not wish to discuss those reasons at this time, in the hope that all issues will be resolved amicably between Jon and myself. As always, my first priority remains our children.”

CIA involvement with the 1953 Iran coup affects the future

Iran and the US have a long history when it comes to politics. On June 4, 2009 President Obama admitted the CIA was involved in the 1953 Iranian coup. The past is very important when it comes to current conditions with the Middle Eastern nation.
As far back as 1953, the CIA has been playing in the background of the Middle Eastern nation working on overthrowing the government. The overthrowing of Iran’s government was the first for the CIA.

The puppet masters made sure their were tentacles well placed within the money pits of oil. They laid out who would be the prime minister’s replacement and used propaganda within local media to achieve their objectives.

The wheels had been set in motion in 1953 when Iran’s Parliament voted to nationalize the oil industry. Britain was the first to place sanctions in place as Dr. Mohammed Mosadegh was elected prime minister.

Mosadegh refused to cave in to demands.

At the time, the Americans decided to study the situation, as it was feared the Soviets would be in power in Iran.

Those tentacles were able to work well when in March 1953 a general from the Iranian army approached the American Embassy about helping out an army-led coup.

Within a month the Iran fund was as $1 million to be used in any way to take Mosadegh out of power.

The New York Times reports:

“A shah-General Zahedi combination, supported by C.I.A. local assets and financial backing, would have a good chance of overthrowing Mosadegh,” officials wrote, “particularly if this combination should be able to get the largest mobs in the streets and if a sizable portion of the Tehran garrison refused to carry out Mosadegh’s orders.”

By May 1953, the CIA sent Dr. Wilber to Cyprus to make the initial coup plans. The meeting between Wilber and Norman Darbyshire, chief of the Iran branch of British intelligence left both sides not trusting the other nor that of the ability of General Zahedi to be able to pull of the coup.

Regardless of the doubts the CIA’s Tehran station started a gray propaganda strike passing out anti-Mosadegh cartoons in the streets and working the local press with negative articles.

The plot was in motion even though the final approval had yet to come from President Eisenhower and the Shah was reluctant as a warrior.

The British met in June with the American intelligence officials putting the last touches on the strategy. Soon Kermit Roosevel was on the scene in Tehran to direct the proceedings.

The Shah proved to be a problem from the start. While the CIA had directed him to stand fast and allow the agency to work behind the scenes stirring up unrest and getting General Zahedi appointed as prime minister.

On July 11 Eisenhower signed off on the plan. Early in August the pressure was stepped up by the CIA. Operatives from Iran pretended to be Communists issued threats to Muslims leaders. At least one prominent Muslim was also bombed by CIA agents in the guise of Communist.

On August 4 the results of a referendum was rigged to be in Mosadegh’s favor. The New York Times reported on the same days that the prime minister had won with 99.9 percent of the vote.

The New York Times reports:

“On Aug. 3rd,” the secret history says, “Roosevelt had a long and inconclusive session with the Shah,” who “stated that he was not an adventurer, and hence, could not take the chances of one. “Roosevelt pointed out that there was no other way by which the government could be changed and the test was now between Mosadegh and his force and the Shah and the army, which was still with him, but which would soon slip away.”

On August 13, the Shah signed decrees saying that he would support an army based coup backing General Zahedi. The stage was set.

On August 15, 1953 the coup began in Iran. It failed within hours because of loose lips. Tehran radio was the first to announce that a failed coup against the government had been attempted.

“Headquarters spent a day featured by depression and despair,” the history states, adding, “The message sent to Tehran on the night of Aug. 18 said that ‘the operation has been tried and failed,’ and that ‘in the absence of strong recommendations to the contrary operations against Mosadegh should be discontinued.’”

On August 19, the coup did take place. As the Moscow radio was telling of the American failure in Iran the reality was the Mosadegh government was in tatters.

“It was a day that should never have ended,” the C.I.A.’s secret history said, describing Aug. 19, 1953. “For it carried with it such a sense of excitement, of satisfaction and of jubilation that it is doubtful whether any other can come up to it.”

Obama’s admission that the CIA was involved in the coup was the first time a sitting U.S. president owned up to the involvement.

AFP reported:

“For many years, Iran has defined itself in part by its opposition to my country, and there is in fact a tumultuous history between us,” the US president said.

“Since the Islamic revolution, Iran has played a role in acts of hostage-taking and violence against US troops and civilians. This history is well known.

“Rather than remain trapped in the past, I’ve made it clear to Iran’s leaders and people that my country is prepared to move forward. The question now is not what Iran is against, but rather what future it wants to build.”

Because of the past, the United States has to tread carefully when it comes to current conditions in Iran. Any movements that could point to CIA involvement could prove to be disastrous for future foreign policy in the Middle East.

Friendship Can Change a Life, the Nathaniel Ayers Story

Sometimes the course of a life is changed by a simple act of kindness. Sometimes that kindness comes because a journalist wants a story. for whatever reason Nathaniel Ayers life changed when his friendship with Steve Lopez formed.
Ayers story was presented in the recent movie The Soloist starring Jamie Fox and Robert Downey Jr. But Nathaniel Ayers is a real man and his story is inspiring.

Ayers’ story has inspired newspaper columns, a book and the movie. In 2008 a foundation bearing his name was started to support the artistically gifted that struggle with mental illness.

Above all Nathaniel Anthony Ayers Jr. is a musican. His mental illness has hindered his role in society but not his talent.

He studied at Julliard School in New York City until his schizophrenia blocked his way. For years he lived at his mother’s home in Cleveland, Ohio and dealt with electroshock treatments. They didn’t help.

In 2000 after his mother passed away Ayers left for Los Angeles believing that his father lived there. In LA he joined the thousands that live on the street. Playing broken instruments on street corners for a living Ayers survived.

In 2005 Steve Lopez happened upon Ayers. The LA Times journalist wrote about the talented man and formed a friendship. Lopez went on to write a book,”The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music” , about Ayers transition from living on the street to living inside.

Jennifer Ayers-Moore, sister of Nathaniel, is the founder of the Nathaniel Anthony Ayers Foundation. The Foundation was begun in 2008. It is Jennifer’s desire to use the foundation to help thousands of people by keeping public awareness about mental health on the front burner.

One of the partners of the foundation is the LAMP Community. LAMP is an organization that works to end homelessness and build self-sufficiency with those on the Los Angeles streets that deal with mental illness. Using a Housing First approach they use housing as a means to begin the first steps in treating their clients mental illness.

Doctors Give Tips For Protesters Safety

Doctors in Iran are warning protesters on conditions from arrest and chemical weapons to stay as safe and healthy as possible. The advice is practical, simple and perhaps something that readers may need to tuck away.
These are some tips if you are planning on attending a protest that has the possibility of becoming violent.

In case you are handcuffed with plastic handcuffs flex your muslces as much as possible to make extra space inside the cuffs. Alert the authorities if you feel pain, numbness or tingling. Those are signals that long-term nerve damage may be occurring.

If you are on medication or have a medical condition make sure you have a note from your doctor on the importance of your medical needs. If it is possible carry your medication on your person so that you will have it with you. Give copies of the doctor’s note to the police, any legal representation and medical personnel.

It is possible that chemical weapons could be used during a protest. If you believe that this is a possible danger wear a waterproof outer layer of clothing with tight cuffs and collar. The most natural materials will soak up chemicals. Before attending the event cleanse with non oil-based soaps to prevent chemical weapons from sticking to your skin. Do not use any type of oil on your skin, this can include perfume, lotion, deodorant and many sunscreens.

Do not shave for at least a day in advance of the event. When you shave your pores are opened and that makes chemical weapons more effective.

Do not wear tampons as they absorb chemical weapons.

Do not wear contact lenses. Chemical weapons can in severe cases causes the lenses to melt.

If you do not have a gas mask carry a bandanna soaked in apple cider vinegar or lime juice with you in a sealed bag and carry swimming goggles.

If you are caught in a chemical attack you can blow your nose, rinse out your mouth, cough and spit. Do not rub your eyes or swallow. If you are wearing contacts take they out as soon as your fingers are clean.

Pepper spray is the most common chemical used by authorities. The pain will last for about fifteen minutes before it starts to fade away.

Tear gas is another common chemical that is used during protests. It can take up to five seconds for the chemical to take effect.

If there is an attack call out for those around you to walk and not run to avoid trampling.

Norman Rockwell Museum Celebrates 40th Anniversary

The Norman Rockwell Museum has been open for the past 40 years. This summer they have lined up exhibitions, programs and events through July to celebrate the works of Norman Rockwell.
Founded in 1969 with the help of Norman and Molly Rockwell the museum has been a large part of the culture scene in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Rockwell resided in the Massachusetts town for the last quarter of his life.

The museum has two new shows, “American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell” and “The Fantastical Faces of Peter Rockwell: A Sculptor’s Retrospective.” The latter is showcasing the works of Rockwell’s son Peter.

On July 4, the museum is free for everyone under the age of 18 for a celebration of the nation’s birthday. There will be a barbecue, hands on red,white and blue art projects and more.

On July 5, the 40th Anniversary Party will take place honouring the founding leaders Norma Ogden, Lila Berle, and Jane Fitzpatrick. The night will feature music, a silent auction, activities for all ages and a cocktail party.

On July 11 Peter Rockwell will be at the museum for the day explaining his approach to his work in clay, stone, ceramic and bronze. The day will feature Rockwell guiding an exhibition walk and talk and a book signing.

The museum is open throughout the year except for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Photography is not permitted inside the galleries. Visitors are not allowed to carry backpacks or large packages into the museum.

Same-sex penguin couple given egg to raise at German zoo

When the biological parents of a penguin egg at Germany’s Bremerhaven zoo wouldn’t tend to their egg zookeepers decided to give gay couple Z and Vielpunkt a shot at parenting.
The two male penguins have shown that they have that parenting instinct as they tended to the egg and have been good dads to the baby chick.

Bremerhaven zoo has three same-sex couples among their 20 penguins. They have observed the penguins attempt to mate with their partners. Zoos in Japan and New York have also observed that some of their penguins have homosexual tendencies.

This doesn’t surprise scientists that study the animal kingdom. There are plenty of documented cases of homosexuality.

Most giraffes are homosexual according to research observation. When bottlenose male dolphins are born they are often homosexual and grow to exhibit bisexual behaviours.

These findings are observed both in captivity and in the wild. It also doesn’t seem to matter if there are plenty of the opposite sex around. Actually animals don’t have many hang-ups when it comes to sex. They are fairly animistic when it comes to doing the wild monkey dance of love.

See Magazine reports:

“The whole question of sexual pleasure and where that comes into it is very difficult for zoologists to deal with,” he adds. “There is a continuum of sexual expression in the animal world that includes heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, and everything in between. Why can’t we see this behaviour as a natural variation in sexual expression?”

Illegal Abortions Kill At Least 70,000 Women A Year

When a woman faces an unwanted pregnancy she has few options in many parts of the world. To terminate the fetus she risks prison or the possibility of death. Still 17 million women this year will take that risk by having an illegal abortion.
In Tanzania abortions other than those to save a mother’s life or health are illegal. Because of that hospitals in the nation due with the complications of illegal abortions.

In January one hospital performed 31 minor surgical procedures for the month, 17 of those were to repair damages as the result of ‘incomplete abortions.’ While some of those may have been miscarriages the doctors knew most were from untrained hands attempting to abort a fetus.

Women and girls in Tanzania have no where to turn other than the amateurs when they choice to terminate a pregnancy. Some punch them in the stomach, others insert objects into their vagina and still others use herbs and who knows what in order to terminate the pregnancy.

Those who turn to the back street abortionists risk infection, bleeding, tears into the uterus or bowel and death. They also face the possibility of emergency hysterectomies as doctors race to save their lives.

In Africa it is dangerous to be pregnant. For every 100,000 births 950 women will die. Compared to the 11 deaths per 100,000 women in the United States and even lower counts in other developed countries those figures show the grim realities.

In Latin America its estimated that 5,000 women die every year from illegal abortions. In Chile, Colombia and El Salvador hundreds of women are prosecuted for terminating their pregnancies. Despite being illegal in Chile and Peru one woman in 20 has had an abortion.

Women’s ENews quotes Cristina Alonso who works at the Luna Maya birthing clinic in San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico.

Alonso: “In Latin America, we still have very concrete gender frameworks in terms of male sexual behavior. Men are not supposed to be responsible for the consequences of sexual behavior, but they are supposed to be active sexually . . . Women, on the other hand, still maintain fairly strong gender notions of passivity, of wanting to trust the man. You know there’s this whole idea in Latin America of romance and ‘maybe if I do get pregnant he’ll stay with me forever.’”

Worldwide there are 19 million unsafe abortions every year. According to the World Health Organization 70,000 to 200,000 women will die as a result of one of the blotched illegal abortions. More than two million women will face a serious complication because of turning to an amateur to terminate their pregnancy.

In Tanzania those caught practicing abortions face a 14-year prison term. A woman who ends her pregnancy illegally faces seven years in prison.

The New York Times reports:

“They are supposed to be arrested,” Dr. Mdoe said. “Our work as physicians is just to help and make sure they get healed.”

He went on, “We as medical personnel think abortion should be legal so a qualified person can do it and you can have safe abortion.” There are no plans in Tanzania to change the law.

The woman don’t talk, the doctors don’t ask.

‘Virgin Myth’ Behind Zimbabwe Child Rapes

In Zimbabwe it is believed that by raping a virgin a man will be cured of HIV. The myth came into being when traditional healers started spreading the idea. That myth is behind as many as ten girls being raped a day.
Every year as many as 3,600 girls are being infected with HIV after being raped in Zimbabwe. UNICEF says that the false belief has lead to the rape of hundreds of innocent girls for almost a decade.

CNN reports that Hope Makoni was just 6 when she was raped by a local shopkeeper. Three years later she watched her father kill her mother. She grew strong using education as a way to speak out and break the silence of child rapes in her nation. She went to university obtaining two teaching degrees. As she watched girls dropping out of school she started Girl Child Network in 1998 to give young girls a place to talk and find solutions to their problems. At the end of the first year there were 100 GCN clubs in Zimbabwe. In 2000 Makoni quit her teaching job to devote all of her time to the program. In 2001 she obtained land and opened the first empowerment village, a haven for abused girls. Girls arrive after being rescued by the police, social services or their community. As soon as a girl arrives she is given emergency medication, put into school and put into counseling.

“The youngest girl I ever came across was a day-old baby who was raped,” said Makoni, 37.

Her work has come with a cost. In 2008 Makoni had to flee Zimbabwe. She lives now in the United Kingdom.

“I left Zimbabwe because my life was in danger as a result of my project being interpreted politically.”

In Essex, England Makoni continues to fight for the rights of women and girls by working with the DOVE project.

Stephen Colbert is Off to Baghdad

Comedian Stephen Colbert has gone to Iraq to entertain the troops a la Bob Hope. There will be four shows of The Colbert Report that will air next week from Baghdad.
The shows will have about 450 audience members and have been dubbed “Operation Iraqi Stephen: Going Commando.” The shows will be the first time any show has been broadcast from Iraq for an USO tour.

Colbert is a staunch supporter of the troops overseas. He has helped to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Yellow Ribbon Fund that helps those injured in the war and their families.

AP reports:

“Sometimes my character and I agree,” Colbert said in an interview at his Manhattan office before leaving for Baghdad. “My character and I both know the Apostles’ Creed and my character and I both think it’s a shame that we’re not talking about the troops anymore.”

While Colbert has let it slip that a trip was in the works for a while the exact location was not disclosed.

In March viewers of The Colbert Report were told that Colbert was taking up an invitation from U.S. troops. As Washington Wire reports the comedian said:

“Long ago,” the comedian said, “I made myself a promise– a promise that I would do whatever was asked of me by someone holding an automatic weapon.”

“The Colbert Report” will be sending 30 production staff for the show in Iraq. That is a third of the regular staff. The shows will air Monday through Thursday next week.

Carradine’s Death May Not Have Been Suicide

The reports that David Carradine committed suicide may have been premature. The actor’s manager and wife both say that Carradine was too full of life to take his own.
The death of Carradine is under a police investigation. There is speculation that his death could have been the result of a sex game gone wrong.

Hotel manager said that on Carradine entertained fellow guests of Bangkok’s Swissotel Nai Lert Park Hotel with piano and flute performances in the lobby.

There have been unconfirmed reports that at least one police officer saying that when found the rope that strangled Carradine was attached to his neck and his genitals.

CBC News reports:

Police Lt. Gen. Worapong Chewprecha told reporters that Carradine was found with a rope “tied around his penis and another rope around his neck,” and that the two ropes were tied together.

“It is unclear whether he committed suicide or not or he died of suffocation or heart failure due to an orgasm,” he said.

While officials are not talking about the allegation either way they have said that there is no evidence that foul play was involved in the actor’s death.

According to friends Carradine was not depressed when he left the United States last week for Thailand to begin filming Stretch.

While many say that Carradine would not kill himself the actor himself admitted to suicidal thoughts in a 2004 interview.

Boston.com reports:

He said: “Look, there was a period in my life when I had a single action Colt 45, loaded, in my desk drawer. And every night I’d take it out and think about blowing my head off, and then decide not to and go on with my life.”

That interview though goes against what friends and family members are saying. The general sentiment is that the actor was in a great period of his life and enjoying his time.

Actor Michael Madsen is quoted by CBS News:

“I spoke to his wife this morning,” Madsen said, “and she really wants everybody to know that David was not suicidal. Certainly, I would have known about something like that. Depression wasn’t really a part of his personality. Whatever causes people to have that emotion, he seems to have — seemed to have gotten over it.

If the speculations are correct than Carradine died while engaging in autoerotic asphyxiation. The sex act involves cutting the oxygen supply for sexual arousal. It has been written about when young men have died performing the sex act.

Autopsy reports will take at least three weeks pending toxicology results.

Update To Pastor Jones and The San Diego Code Rules

Last week it was reported that Pastor David Jones was told that his weekly Bible study on Tuesday nights was not legal. The home study would be requiring a conditional use permit that could cost thousands. The media came out in force.
The Pastor was told last week by a code enforcer that his Bible study required a conditional use permit after being questioned about the Bible study. The official had asked Jones if at the weekly meeting members prayed, said “Amen” and “Praise the Lord”. When the answers were positive the official stated that they were a religious assembly and required the permit.

The permit is no longer being required for Pastor Jones and his wife’s Tuesday night Bible studies but the case is not closed yet.

There are still open issues about the land use to be haggled through.

Digital Journal talked to James Griffiths of the The Western Center for Law & Policy (WCLP) on Monday about the case.

While the county has reversed the order to have a conditional use permit for the Pastor they have not as of yet apologized for the overzealous code official’s writing of the order, according to Griffiths.

The original complaint came as a result of a car door ding from a visitor to the neighbourhood. Griffith said that all of the neighbours on the street had no concerns over the weekly Bible study. In fact they are standing behind Pastor Jones.

As for the car ding Pastor Jones paid out of his own pocket for the repairs without even knowing for sure where the damage came from, says Griffiths. The minor damage cost the pastor about $220.

Pastor Jones is the pastor of South Bay Christian Fellowship in San Diego. He and Griffith hope that the Bible study will continue to grow as large as it can. Space is an issue but there could be a chance for additional Bible studies to take place. Regardless they are hopeful that they can reach more people.

As to what comes next Griffiths says that depends on the county.

“So far we have only sent the demand letter to San Diego County. No motion has been filled yet. We are concerned about the land permit issue. We are hoping not to have to fill a motion in the end.”

The WCLP is doing all of the work for Pastor Jones pro bono.

According to spokesman Luis Monteagudo County Supervisor Greg Cox has received 240 emails and 33 voicemail messages concerning this case as of May 29.

San Diego County chief administrative officer Walt Ekard issued the following statement about the case reports the Washington Post.

“No one respects the right to free religious expression more than I do and no one would find the infringement of such rights more abhorrent. The Bible studies will continue in Pastor David Jones’ home as we work to find a solution that works for everyone involved in this matter. Should I find that County staff at any level acted in a heavy-handed way; did anything inappropriate under the circumstances; or that a change or revision to our processes and procedures is warranted, I will take appropriate action immediately.”

Both sides will meet on June 9 to discuss additional issues about the case. Until that meeting the Bible study will continue.

Ontario May Close 146 Schools in The Next 2 Years

Across Ontario 146 schools may lock their doors for good over the next two years. Those closings would effect more than 150,000 students according to a report by People for Education.
Low enrollment is the force before the proposed school closings. In the larger cities students get still be close to another school but in rural areas those closings could have a devastating impact and not just for the children.

The Globe and Mail reports:

“It can become an accelerating issue, where a small town loses people and services and if it loses its schools, fewer families want to move there,” said Annie Kidder.

“Do we say to a small town, ‘No, sorry, it’s just too expensive?”’

School enrollments have decreased since 2002 by 14 per cent.

In 2008 16 schools were closed. This will be the last year for another 34 schools slated to be closed.

The closing of a school often means another school will be getting more programs. The smallest schools do not have the funding that they need to have extra programs. This is a difficult issue for school boards.

Some northern Ontario schools have to deal with so little funding that science departments haven’t enough. Some areas are eliminating middle schools sending their Grade 7 students straight into a high school environment or putting the students back into a elementary school setting.

According to the report by People for Education 145 schools in Ontario are undergoing Accommodation reviews.

The most northern schools in Ontario have the smallest school populations. The optimal school size according to researchers is between 600 to 700 students in secondary schools and under 400 in primary schools. While schools with larger populations appear on paper to have more success by economical standards research has shown that graduation rates are higher when school populations are smaller. Students are also more engaged and tend to participate in activities more often at the smaller sized schools.

People for Education is an independent parent-led organization. The group researches and provides information about Ontario schools to the public. In a phone interview with Executive Director Annie Kidder Digital Journal asked about the group’s concerns.

“The school closings have an effect across the board. We need to think about the total community that is effected. The Providence understands that there is an issue. They are doing a lot of talking about it. They understand the importance that schools should act as their community’s hub.”

The largest number of school closings are in the rural areas of the province. The closings are affecting both the elementary and secondary schools in Ontario.

The Water That Kills in Gujarat

In Gujarat, India the farmers have plenty of water to irrigate their crops. The problem though is that water kills. The residents of this village say that Gujarat Fluorochemicals has poisoned their land.
The water that comes out of the well stinks. On the surface an oily film is visible.

That is the water for the villagers.

Years ago the barren land was filled with crops. Radha, the only female farmer in the village, grew spinach, potatoes and other crops. Now her plants are useless. Cotton fields produce nothing. For a widow with six children that means hunger.

The soil has a white crust. It smells like paint thinner.

The village is overlooking a plant that is owned by Gujarat Fluorochemicals (GFL). The plant makes refrigerant gases for air-conditioners and refrigerators.

The plant was built in 1989. Four years ago it was equipped with technology to reduce the greenhouse gases it produces as part of a worldwide carbon-trading scheme. It is supposed to help with global warming. It failed. Instead it is poisoning the lands that surround it.

That scheme may sound good on paper but the realities are an environment being poisoned as the push for greenhouse gases is emphasized.

Probe International reports:

Veteran anti-dam activist Himanshu Thakkar told a UN conference in Delhi last week that the Clean Development Mechanism – which aims to allow polluters in rich nations credit for emissions reductions they fund in poorer countries – is not reducing India’s greenhouse gas emissions. “We have seen no new technology being used in India and no benefit to anyone but big companies,” he is quoted saying.

India is one of the largest targets for the changes but there is not enough funding to do it properly.

The Centre for Science and Environment, an influential think tank based in Delhi, has also pointed out that “the stock of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere was built up over centuries in the process of creating nations’ wealth. This is the natural debt of nations, and they must pay up.”

The soil and water tested in the areas are filled with the very chemicals that the plant produces. The testing was conducted by The Daily Mail.

While the plant is working on changing their greenhouse gases it appears that they are not as concerned about the environmental changes that are taking place in the villages that surround it.

‘The carbon-credits business operates rather like the financial-services industry did,’ says Kevin Smith of campaigning watchdog Carbon Trade Watch.

‘Insufficient scrutiny and transparency, dodgy projects getting money when they shouldn’t be. And we all know the consequences of what happened in financial services. But this is potentially much more serious, because unlike the Government, nature doesn’t do bailouts.’

The factory produces a gas called HFC23. That gas is one of the most dangerous when it comes to global warming. One ton of HFC23 is equivalent to 11,700 tons of carbon. GFL installed new technology to capture and recycle HFC23. That technology has helped pad the pockets of GFL and Ineos.

The UN credit scheme is proving to be very profitable for those involved.

In the last quarter of 2006 GFL made €27 million.

It is being alleged though that those profits are coming with a very high human toll. Water is now caustic. Children are born with birth defects. People stay sick. Children die in their parents arms.

We didn’t have these illnesses before this factory came. When the wind blows the gas this way, mostly at night, it hurts our throats and eyes and burns our crops. We’ve lost six healthy children. They go giddy, they fall and die. We were carrying one child out the door to the hospital and she just died in her mother’s arms.’

Testing of the water shows high levels of fluoride and chloride. All water in the area that was tested was deemed unsafe to drink. The soil had high levels of the same chemicals.

‘High flouride levels cause skeletal fluorosis in which people complain about joint pain, backache and rigid bones,’ environmental specialist Hiral Mehta says. ‘The crop deterioration is another impact. Your tests confirm previous investigations.’

The recession may help slow down help for the villagers. There is less money for the major players to work with. The price of Clean Development Mechanism (CDMs) offsets has slumped by nearly 30% over the last couple of weeks.

Kevin Smith from Carbon Trade Watch says, ‘The carbon market is riddled with projects like GFL. It’s not like this project is the bad apple – the whole barrel is rotten. Time and again we’re seeing evidence of gross injustices being carried out – people being evicted to make way for dams and waste incinerators being built in residential areas. Carbon trading has been the subject of a very slick PR campaign portraying it as the answer to climate change, so investigations such as this are very important.’

Golden Child Turns Back On Buddhism

Osel Hita Torres, 24, the boy that the Dalai Lama has hand-picked as a reincarnation of a spiritual leader has turned his back on the Buddhist order.

Torres grew up in a palace, living a monastic life. That life has been replaced by university in Madrid where he is studying film. He has given up the life that was picked for him as a toddler saying it was all a lie.

The Guardian reports:

“They took me away from my family and stuck me in a medieval situation in which I suffered a great deal,” said Torres, 24, describing how he was whisked from obscurity in Granada to a monastery in southern India. “It was like living a lie,” he told the Spanish newspaper El Mundo.

It was suspected that Torres was the reincarnation of Lama Yeshe. He was found at the age of five months. In 1986 his parents took him to see the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India at the age of 14 months. He was chosen from nine others to be enthroned.

He grew up being called Lama Tenzin Osel Rinpoche. As a boy his only social contacts were with other reincarnated souls and Richard Gere who had a cabin next to him.

Today Torres is a Jimi Hendrix fan. Last year he performed in the Burning Man Festival is the Nevada desert.

The young man has distanced himself from the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition. He is no longer wearing the monastic robes as he pursues his education in his homeland of Spain.

Facebook May Start Vanity URLs This Week

Just like vanity plates for your car, Facebook will soon be offering vanity URLs for profile pages this week according to a reliable source to Tech Crunch.

There will be words that are in a blacklist according to Tech Crunch. Those words will include trademark infringements and many generic terms.

At this time Facebook profiles have been using user id numbers instead of words. Since March some Facebook pages have had the vanity URLs. Those who have the vanity tags are in a business relationship with Facebook.

The vanity URL is a useful tool on many other sites including MySpace and Twitter.

Facebook employees will get first dibs on the vanity URLs. Mark has already been taken by Mark Zuckerberg.

Surgery may not be best first approach to colorectal cancer

Researchers are saying that patients with Stage VI colorectal cancer may benefit more from chemotherapy than from surgical removal of the tumors.

When a patient has been diagnosed with Stage VI colorectal cancer the colon tumor has spread to another organ. If the tumors are not presenting with problems to the patient it may be best to move straight into chemotherapy without delay because of surgical complications.

The study focused on 233 metastatic colorectal cancer cases at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC). The researchers found that 90 percent of the cases did not require surgery.

The patients all were given a standard three-drug chemotherapy combination. In folow-up exams 217 of the patients did not require surgery for the primary tumor.

55 had elective surgery on the original tumor and removal of other lesions. Eight had a hepatic-artery infusion-pump implanted. That device pumps the chemotherapy medications directly into the liver.

In the past surgery was the first option and then chemotherapy. The rationale was that the tumors would not respond well to the chemotherapy on the primary tumors.

Doctors now have better medicines to use for chemotheraphy. They believe that the chemotherapy approach is better at reducing the size of colon tumors and the metastases.

Science Daily reports:

“We now know that the routine use of surgery for these patients is based on old thinking, and we’re beyond that. There will always be the need for individual exceptions based on the clinical situation, but our default position should be not to operate,” said Dr. Paty.

Researchers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center has found that the survival period from Stage VI colorectal cancer has increased from eight months (patients diagnosed prior to 1990) to more than 30 months. Those diagnosed after 2004 have a 30 percent chance of a five-year survival.

UPI reports:

“In this study, we wanted to determine if these changes resulted in longer survival of metastatic colorectal cancer patients in a large population base,” Kopetz, the study’s corresponding author, said in a statement.

“There had been some hints — for example, in Phase III trials we had seen the overall survival increase over several years. However, because of the enormity of the data, the large population data bases are slow to reflect these changes, so there had not been a signal of increased survival.”

A Profile of Michael Rafferty, the Suspect in the Stafford Case

Michael Rafferty has been named as a suspect in the Tori Stafford murder in Ontario. He was named after a fellow suspect reportedly heard that he was dating other women. Learn more about the man in the centre of this case.

It’s known that Michael Rafferty was a ladies man. He is accused of cheating on his girlfriends, Tara McDonald, the mother of Tori Stafford, told police.

Rafferty has a son. It’s been said that as a father he wasn’t in contact with his son.

Rafferty was also a party guy. The Toronto Star reports that in Toronto, where he lived ten years ago, he was a regular at a bar on Peter Street.

In Woodstock he spent time at Good Times Charlie’s.

Although some have called the man odd, no one would have connected him to the murder of a child.

Rafferty is said to be on a suicide watch at Elgin Middlesex Detention Centre in London, Ontario.

The Calgary Herald reports:

“From what I am told, and I don’t know if it stands true or not, but the only reason that she confessed was that she found out he had found another girlfriend out here and that was pretty much her way of getting back,” Tara McDonald said.

Const. Laurie-Anne Maitland told this Digital Journalist she “…can’t give out any other information than on the media releases”.

Good Time Charlie’s in Woodstock refused to comment about Rafferty.

“We’re not going to comment on that case.”

Rafferty has remained silent about the case. His lawyer is quoted by CBC about the Crown having separate trials.

Mattson said, “They have — or might be — negotiating a deal with the other side.”

“I mean, they [prosecutors] may be trying to avoid what in another case that is a little more famous — or was more famous — where there was a lot of criticism of the attorney general’s office. And maybe that’s why they’ve got two separate prosecutors. But that’s just speculation,” Mattson told reporters gathered outside the courthouse in Woodstock.

This Digital Journalist contacted one of the law offices assisting with the Rafferty case in Kitchener. The receptionist said that they are not commenting at all about this case.

Terri-Lynne McClintic has also just been charged with first-degree murder. She was arrested May 19 in Woodstock, Ont., and later appeared in court to face charges of abducting the eight-year-old schoolgirl, as well as assisting Rafferty, 28, to escape the area and being an accessory to murder after the fact.

Also, police continue to search for Tori Stafford’s body. OPP Det.-Insp. William Renton told media:

The investigative team is working hard and is utilizing all available resources to help locate the body of Victoria Stafford.

Animals Share Morals With Humans

It’s often been suggested what sets humans apart from other animals is the ability to have morals. That theory is being disputed by some scientists that have observed humans are not alone in morals.

From rats to wolves animal scientists are observing that morals may be something we all in the animal kingdom are born with.

Humans are indeed animals. As scientists research futher into the morality clause of humans they are finding that we are not alone. Most animals have the ability to tell right from wrong and have emotions.

Professor Marc Bekoff who works at the University of Colorado, Boulder believes that morals is ‘hard-wired’ into the brain of all mammals. Could it be that morals is how all animals are able to live together in groups.

Wolves are not known for their fairness when it comes to other species but as a group they work well together. Wolves will even ‘handicap’ themselves amongst their pack to give equal footing to others.

Chimpanzees are kinder to the members in their groups who are handicapped.

The Daily Mail quotes Bekoff:

‘The belief that humans have morality and animals don’t is a long-standing assumption, but there is a growing amount of evidence that is showing us that this simply cannot be the case,’ Prof Bekoff told the Sunday Telegraph.

‘Just as in humans, the moral nuances of a particular culture or group will be different from another, but they are certainly there.

‘Moral codes are species specific, so they can be difficult to compare with each other or with humans.’

Consider dogs. Humans have put a lot of faith in an animal that often are not considered capable of morals. Would you trust a non-moral human with helping your blind mother across the road?

Would you allow testing on your family pet similar to those being done on mice in the lab?

Ask yourself why. We know the truth. We see the truth in their trusting eyes. If an animal can trust how can we even think that they don’t have other emotions.

Primatologist Frans De Waal agrees with Bekoff:

De Waal argues that morality evolved to address a need: “in the course of human evolution, out group hostility enhanced in group solidarity to the point that morality emerged. This presents a “profound irony”: our noblest achievement-morality-as evolutionary ties to our basest behavior-warfare.

The Challenges of Crime Reporting

On May 26 the Canadian Journalism Foundation hosted The Media and Wrongful Conviction with criminal lawyer James Lockyer. The evening focused on murder cases where an innocent person served time.

The role of the journalist in these type of wrongful conviction cases is very important.

First let’s examine the judicial system.

As Toronto lawyer James Lockyer stated at the beginning of his lecture:

“All human processes are human and prone to error. A criminal trial is a human process.”

When dealing with the court a journalist has to examine the fallacies as they present their story. Those fallacies are plentiful for the court room is filled with humans.

But you’re already ahead in the game so let’s go back to the crime scene. While journalists aren’t always allowed at the scene of the crime they can ask important questions. The early clues are vital for a fair hearing.

At the beginning we as journalists and the public want the same thing as the police, an answer. That answer takes time. Unless witnesses are at the scene and the crime is filmed it’s difficult to get down to brass tacks, the suspect. There is often a rush to judgment, the easiest answer is the suspect. In many wrongful conviction cases that was the case. The innocent knew the victim, often they were in a relationship, were a relative or a neighbour.

That rush to judgment is not just due to the police, the public and the media is often on the bandwagon. In the recent case of Tori Stafford her mother was a very early suspect.

In this rush to judgment the journalist needs to be ready to look at the evidence presented and start asking vital questions. Are the witnesses reliable? Are the police and the witnesses telling the truth? Do the findings make sense? What types of forensics are being used as a means of pinpointing a suspect? Are those tests junk science?

Once the case makes it to the courtroom the journalist has a much more difficult task. They have to examine all the findings and observe them with a slightly jaundiced eye. Wide eyed innocence in the court room is not a practical way to cover a trial that may result in a person being sent away for life. A journalist now has a different set of questions to add to the first set, which should still be in play.

Is the Crown disclosing the information to the court? Is the defense council reliable? Can the jury grasp the information being present to them?

Mr. Lockyer observed that is should not surprise anyone that wrongful convictions can easily take place.

“What I would like to see is reporters covering cases with a jaundiced eye.”

It’s not difficult that the media can be a key element in murder cases. That element can be both positive and negative. The media can ask questions, find witnesses and examine findings with a new eye that police can use. On the other hand the media can put pressure on the police to help a suspect that results in a rush to judgment before the evidence supports that finding.

After the trial the journalist has not lost their importance. This is the time when a journalist may have to take on the establishment. To raise questions about if an innocent has been convicted of a crime. The journalist may be the only voice a wrongly convicted person has to have a voice.

Sadly there isn’t enough of this type of reporting going on. Once the case has closed it’s time for the next story. Often though it’s just the beginning of the story. These stories are not easy nor do they have a pre-set wrap up time. They take long hours of research, interviews and aren’t always that popular. They are when the journalist is most needed though. That in itself, makes it an issue that journalists must strive to improve on.

An innocent person’s life may just depend on it.

Opinion: Maybe It’s Time For The Truth About Death And Insurance In Obits

John Doe, 35, died from lack of funds. Cancer treatments that would have saved his life were not affordable. Donations to help bury Mr. Doe are being accepted by his family.

“I’m sorry but there’s nothing we can do. While the cancer is treatable we can’t work with you. You don’t have insurance and that’s just unforgivable. Have a nice day.”

This obituary will not appear in the local paper nor did the doctor’s conversation take place but maybe they should. In Ohio alone two people a day between the ages of 25 and 64 die because they do not have health insurance.

We can’t imagine those words being said to a cancer patient but the reality is people without insurance are routinely given a death sentence. They don’t have the means to pay for the operation, drugs or hospital stay. Without the money to afford the keys to life they die.

The Dayton OS reports:

U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton (D-Chardon) said the study underscores the need for Democrats’ national health care reform proposals.

“It is incomprehensible that in the most advanced nation in the world, so many Americans are priced out of a healthy life, and in some cases are being priced out of life at all,” she said.

Col Owens, representing Ohio Consumers for Health Coverage, said the report disproves a common misconception.

“It is clear that too many Ohioans believe that because hospital emergency rooms must accept everyone, that people in Ohio don’t die for lack of health care coverage,” he said. “The problem doesn’t start in the emergency room. It starts invisibly and silently.”

People without insurance often believe if they get sick enough they can go to the emergency room and be treated. There is only so much the average emergency room can do. They can’t treat cancer, they can’t give a person a heart operation. They can only treat what they can treat. From that point on a patient has to deal with the admitting department.

Some of the best doctors in the world practice in the United States. There are 47 million Americans who do not have a chance for that excellent care because they don’t have the means to pay for it.

Perhaps Dr. Sanjay Gupta says it best on his blog:

I think it’s safe to say that no one thinks our health care system works well. I haven’t thought so, almost from the moment I entered it. Simplifying a bit, for the purposes of this blog, the two issues on the table are cost and access – and probably in that order. Having sat down with President Obama, I know he believes we should build on the current system. That is, people who have health insurance they like should be able to keep the same coverage. People who can’t afford it would be eligible for subsidies to help defray the costs. I have not heard anyone from the administration talk about completely overhauling the system or having it completely run by the government.

So perhaps it is time for newspapers to print the real cause of death in the newspapers obit section. Those death notices could help really bring about change.

The long road home may never end- Brain Injury Recovery

The way home has changed. The pathways were easy to navigate in the past. They are now a maze of jumbled vines and branches ready to trip me up.

I hadn’t left for that long. From what I remember the trails that were close by were well maintained. How did they become so jumbled in just a month?

There were bridges that very recently connected to each other. The supports have vanished.

The older parts along the way home haven’t changed. They don’t mean the same thing to me, but they are in their place. It’s the latest developments, the real estate has shifted. Sometimes I remember where things were so short a period ago and then I forget. It’s like a giant fog came and rearranged the landscape.

And such is the recovery process from a brain injury.

At times memories are clean cut and clear. At others they are gone. Each day brings new challenges, new solutions, new frustrations.

What works well with one patient is often the opposite of what is needed in another.

It is very common for a patient with a brain injury to deal with changes in memory, concentration, response time, planning and problem solving, initiative, flexibility, insight, impulsively, control of anger, talking, behavior, dependence, emotional stability, depression.

There have been some advancements in treating brain injury but many more are still in the study process. One important finding in 2006 was reported by Science Daily.

“We can theoretically take a single brain cell out of a human being and – with just this one cell – generate enough brain cells to replace every cell of the donor’s brain and conceivably those of 50 million other people,” said Dennis Steindler, Ph.D., executive director of UF’s McKnight Brain Institute. “This is a completely new source of human brain cells that can potentially be used to fight Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke and a host of other brain disorders. It would probably only take months to get enough material for a human transplant operation.”

Onto the reality of dealing with a brain injury.

Recovery from a brain injury is a loose term. The truth is most people who suffer a traumatic brain injury will have some limits. Brains don’t recover the same as a broken bone. The deficits caused to the brain are generally permanent. Expecting a full recovery can cause a patient and their families to experience denial, frustration, disappointment, and even worse, extremely unrealistic expectations and planning. Hope is a positive element but reality needs to play a large part when it comes to the ‘recovery’ period of a brain injury.

There is no magic number when it comes to the time it will take for visible recovery to happen. Some people take six months to see progress, some a year, some take several years and some will never see a big improvement. Less severe brain injury patients typically recover quicker and those with massive brain injury take longer periods.

Recovery comes in small peaks and valleys. There is no consistent pattern though with brain injury cases.

Miracle cures are rare. There is no magic formula that speeds up the process. While using the most up-to-date therapies are beneficial they are not a cure.

IQ scores don’t pick up all the deficits when it comes to a brain injury. Testing for IQ can be misleading. Task testing is a better indicator on what damages have occurred. As the Web site Get Real Results puts it traditional intelligence tests bear little relationship to the mental processes required for successful everyday functioning. They are composed of brief, highly structured, artificial tasks, that emphasize old learning and over learned skills.

MRIs don’t tell the whole picture either. Brain scans may look completely normal and yet there are serious damages that are the reality of a patient’s life.

Most patients with a brain injury will not use that injury to their advantage. Most are frustrated by the challenges they face. Patients though do have a tendency to become dependent on their support teams. This is a learned dependency and can be unlearned.

Psychotherapy needs are very different for those with a brain injury than the rest of the population. This is not the time to cure the past. This is a time period that requires a structuring, supportive, problem-solving approach.

Many brain injury patients have to take medications. Some of those drugs are used to treat various emotional, behavioral, and even cognitive problems after brain injury. Some though can cause a patient to lose footing on their way back. Mild tranquilizers are one of those drugs. In a non-injured brain they may calm a person, in an injured brain they may cause memory problems, poor judgment, and emotional control problems in head injured persons.

With brain injury recovery is not known. There are no magic bullets. Learning strategies to cope with deficits can be more important than holding out for a total recovery.

It’s a long road. There are many blockades in the process and there is no guarantee that the final word will be positive.

Why Is Ibrahim Jassam In Custody?

Cameraman Ibrahim Jassam has been in custody since September. Jassam works for Reuters. He is considered by the United States government to be a security risk. But is he any more of a risk than Roxana Saberi was to Iran?

Ibrahim Jassam isn’t alone in being detained by the United States in a foreign land. For six years Sami al-Haj was held in Guantanamo without a trial. Sami al-Haj was a cameraman for Al Jazeera. His story, unlike Saberi’s went untold for the most part by the media.

He was released in 2007 without the fanfare the Saberi case received. He was asked to spy on Al-Jazeera while in Guantanamo instead of asked about his life as a terrorist. Why? Because there was no evidence that the man was anything but a journalist.

Bilal Hussein was in prison for almost two years without being charged. Hussein is a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer for AP.

In the Ibrahim Jassam case five months ago an Iraqi court found no evidence that justifies his detention. He was ordered to be released. The United States has refused to recognize that court order. He is still in custody.

Reuters reports:

“Though we appreciate the decision of the Central Criminal Court of Iraq in the Jassam case, their decision does not negate the intelligence information that currently lists him as a threat to Iraq security and stability,” said Major Neal Fisher, spokesman for the U.S. military’s detainee operations in Iraq.

“He will be processed for release in a safe and orderly manner after December 31st, in the order of his individual threat level, along with all other detainees,” Fisher said in an email to Reuters.

“Since he already has a decision from the CCCI, when it is his turn for release he will be able to out-process without having to go through the courts as other detainees in his threat classification will have to do.”

Jassam, 31, was arrested on September 2, 2008. Troops from both the US and Iraq came to his home in the middle of the night breaking down the family’s front door. When Iraqi soldiers asked where the journalist Ibrahim was he stepped forward. The LA Times reports that one of his brothers recalls:

Ibrahim Jassam, a cameraman and photographer for the Reuters news agency, stepped forward, one of this brothers recalled. “Take me if you want me, but please leave my brothers.”

They did. Blindfolding him, taking his computer’s hard drive the troops handcuffed Jassam and drove away.

There are still no formal accusations that have been made against Jassam.

Jassam’s brother, [url=He may well break under the pressure of being detained. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq-journalist24-2009may24,0,2581320.story t=_blank]Walid, visited him recently in Camp Bucca, the desolate, tented U.S. prison camp in the desert in southern Iraq, and found him close to the breaking point.

“He used to be handsome, but now he’s pale and he’s tired,” said Walid, who says his brother had no ties to insurgents. “Every now and then while we were talking, he would start crying. He was begging me: ‘Please do something to get me out of here. I don’t know what is the charge against me.’

“I told him we already tried everything.”

Reporters without Borders has called for his release. But where is the rest of the world’s outrage?

Salon reports:

Hussein’s detention is not an isolated incident. Over the last three years, dozens of journalists—mostly Iraqis—have been detained by U.S. troops, according to CPJ research. While most have been released after short periods, in at least eight cases documented by CPJ Iraqi journalists have been held by U.S. forces for weeks or months without charge or conviction. In one highly publicized case, Abdul Ameer Younis Hussein, a freelance cameraman working for CBS, was detained after being wounded by U.S. military fire as he filmed clashes in Mosul in northern Iraq on April 5, 2005. U.S. military officials claimed footage in his camera led them to suspect Hussein had prior knowledge of attacks on coalition forces. In April 2006, a year after his arrest, Hussein was freed after an Iraqi criminal court, citing a lack of evidence, acquitted him of collaborating with insurgents.

Mother Accused Of Killing Son, Two Children Forced Off Bridge

An Oregon mother is accused of tossing her daughter and son off of Sellwood Bridge over the Willamette River. Local residents heard the children’s screams and rushed to the water to attempt a rescue.

The children were found almost an hour just after 2 a.m. Saturday after their first screams were heard by a resident in a boat. KGW quotes the man:

“It must have been horrifying. The water is so cold, it was dark, and so for two little kids, I can only imagine how horrifying that must have been,” he said.

The boy, 4, died from the ordeal. His sister, 7, is recovering in hospital. She is in serious condition.

The boy has been identified as Eldon Jay Rebhan Smith. Drowning has been listed as the cause of death.

The children’s father reported them missing on Friday night to Tualatin police. . He and their mother had joint custody of the youngsters.

It is not clear how the children were forced off of the bridge.

Amanda Jo Stott-Smith, 31, was arrested in a downtown Portland parking garage by Portland police.

Portland police said during a press conference on Saturday evening that Stott-Smith has been charged with the aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder of her children.

Search continues for Ontario teen Shane Fair

Shane Fair, 19, is missing. On May 16, 2009, the York University student attended a dinner and dance at Ontario Place in Toronto. He was last seen at 12:30 a.m. in the Lakeshore Boulevard West and British Columbia Road area.

Shane was supposed to leave the Calumet Formal at the Atlantis Pavilion on a bus returning to York University. He never made it. The police have interviewed Shane’s roommates.

On Friday a search party was unsuccessful at Ontario Place.

On Sunday his friends and family will search again starting at 1 p.m. at Parliament and Front Street.

The search tomorrow will focus on parks, homeless shelters, construction sites and areas common for “nightly activity” east of Yonge since there is a higher concentration of them and would be in line with the direction might have been heading in should he have been trying to walk home.

Shane is a reserve of the Canadian Armed Forces. He is white, about 5′11″, 170 lbs., with brown hair and a short Mohawk. When he went missing he was wearing a blue suit, blue shirt and blue tie.

Toronto Now a Star in Film, TV Productions

Toronto has long been a spot for film, turning the shots into whatever city is needed. New York, Chicago, Berlin – Toronto has been crafted into them. The tide is changing and now dramas are not only being shot in Toronto but the city is starring as well.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is being filmed in Toronto at the moment. Stars Michael Cera, Chris Evans and Brandon Routh can be spotted around town. A Starbucks on Spadina has served the young Cera a few times. One server who wishes not to be named told Digital Journal that the young star is friendly. While the spotting of the stars is nice for the city what’s more impressive is that Toronto is becoming the focus of many films.

Pizza Pizza can be seen as it really is. Casa Loma is featured as a real place in a battle scene. The spots that mean something to Torontonians are getting filmed as they are really known. Scott Pilgrim is a graphic novel set in Toronto.

Toronto can thank Hollywood writers for the nod to the city. Had it not been for the writer’s strike in 2007 Toronto may not be getting the recognition that it is now. When the writers in the States were striking Canadian shows started filtering onto US screens.

The Globe and Mail reports:

“Bathurst Street is practically the cerebral cortex of Scott Pilgrim,” said Miles Dale, one of the film’s producers, who stood at the back of the set wearing the de rigueur producer’s uniform of jeans, baseball cap and chin stubble. He also produced, among others, Hollywoodland (shot in Toronto but set in Los Angeles) and Talk to Me (shot in Toronto but set in Washington, D.C.). Mr. Dale calls Scott Pilgrim vs. the World – based on a series of graphic novels by Toronto writer Bryan Lee O’Malley – “the biggest movie ever identifiably set in Toronto. The books are super-specific in their local details, and Edgar Wright, from the beginning, was set on using images from the books. Universal never suggested setting it anywhere else.”

Atom Egoyan’s next film, Chloe, was meant to take place in San Francisco while being filmed in Toronto. The director convinced his French backers to switch the setting to Toronto. Because of that switch stars Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson and Amanda Seyfried are being filmed on McCaul Street, College Street, at the University of Toronto and other places around the city.

Flashpoint is a new hit TV show and also being filmed with Toronto as its backdrop. The Eaton Centre has been featured as well as other downtown spots.

Toronto has arrived. Being one of the Queen Bee’s for setting gives the city Hollywood clout.

Your weekly shopping bag could make you sick

Do you clean your reusable grocery bags each week before you put them away? If you don’t you could be setting your family up for a painful bout of food poisoning.

Using reusable bags for your marketing is a great idea for the environment but make sure you clean the bags after each use. Toronto-based Sporometrics research director Dr. Richard Summerbell warns of a food poisoning risk from contaminated bags as just one of several conditions. Other risks from a dirty bag include bacterial boils, allergic reactions, triggering of asthma attacks, and ear infections.

The study conducted showed that 64% of the reusable bags tested were contaminated with some level of bacteria and close to 30% had elevated bacterial counts higher than what’s considered safe for drinking water.

One key containment was the presence of faecal intestinal bacteria. All meat should be individually wrapped before being put in your shopping bag.

Don’t use your shopping bags for anything other than shopping for safety sake. Shopping bags are not multi-taskers.

One tip I can offer is reusing the bags for collecting recycling at your house. We use the bags for this and they hold up well week after week. Because the bags are only used for recycling they are not taken out again for marketing trips. The bags that are have to be cleaned after each trip.

Tara McDonald wants daugther’s killers to die

Tara McDonald, mother of the 8-year-old Tori Stafford who went missing, is speaking out about the arrests of two people in connection to her daughter’s abduction and murder. She says the police were too focused on her and not enough on the real culprits.

In an interview with The London Free Press newspaper, McDonald said, “My daughter’s not coming home. I want the killers dead. I know there are sick and twisted people in the world but I had no idea. I don’t want to sound selfish and I wish this on no one, but I sometimes think, why did it have to be my daughter?

“To think someone took my daughter and then … I can’t even think about it,” she said.

McDonald is angry about the treatment she says she and her son, 11, received from the police. At one point in the investigation, she said she was informed she was the prime suspect. She states that Daryn, her son, was interviewed without a parent or family member present.

McDonald’s ‘cool’ behaviour during the ordeal leading up to the arrests this week had critics pointing fingers at her. Local media and police questioned if the mother was the one behind Tori’s disappearance.

She faced the news cameras dry eyed, begging for her daughter’s return. The public wanted to see her tears. She fought them off until behind closed doors.

As she hoped for the safe return of her daughter, McDonald had to battle the public about everything from looking like the police composite to being in a biker gang. Both of those were false.

She also recently admitted she’s using methadone to fight her addiction to Oxycontin.

The Edmonton Sun reports:

“People have asked many times, ‘Why aren’t you crying, why aren’t you showing emotion?’ ” she said to counter the oft-mentioned criticism. “I don’t do it out here. I do it in there with my friends and family, with people who can console me.”

McDonald said she knew the mother of Terry-Lynne McClintic, 18, because of dog breeding. She had visited Carol McClintic at her home three times to discuss the subject. McDonald said she was high on drugs the one time that Terry-Lynne was in the apartment.

After two people were arrested in connection with young Tori’s disappearance, questions are now emerging about two previous attempted abductions in the Fergus, ON area. The two people arrested in connection with Tori’s disappearance were found in this area.

School children in Fergus were sent home with a note warning parents about a dark-coloured van after the two attempts.

US Cigarette Companies Lose Appeal In Federal Court

Cigarette companies in the United States will no longer be allowed to market tobacco products as “low tar,” “light,” “ultra light” or “mild.”

After deceiving the public for years cigarette markers were found in 2006 guilty of fraud and violating racketeering laws. That ruling was upheld on Friday in federal appeals court.

The companies must now change the labeling on cigarettes after the court upheld the 2006 ruling that “low tar,” “light,” “ultra light” or “mild” are deceptive terms and no safer than any other cigarette.

Today’s ruling also states companies must publish “corrective statements” on the adverse health effects and addictiveness of smoking and nicotine.

The changes were not required while the case was in the appeals process.

The case was filed when President Clinton was still in office in 1999. President Bush’s administration pursued the case after getting criticism for discussing the weaknesses of the case.

CNN Money reports:

“We affirm the district court’s judgment of liability in its entirety except as to (the trade groups) CTR and TI, with regard to which we vacate the judgment and remand with directions to dismiss them from the suit,” the three-judge appeals court panel concluded in its 92-page ruling Friday.

The final ruling today was against the defendants; Philip Morris USA Inc. and its parent, Altria Group Inc.; R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.; Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp.; British American Tobacco Ltd.; Lorillard Tobacco Co.; Counsel for Tobacco Research-U.S.A.; and the now-defunct Tobacco Institute.

The only company that was excluded from today’s ruling was the Liggett Group Inc. The court found that the company had come forward in the 1990s and admitted that smoking causes disease and is addictive. They have also cooperated with federal investigators.

Girl,5, shot in latest Toronto gun violence

Yesterday a little five-year-old girl in Toronto became the latest victim of gun violence. A gunman sprayed bullets on Bellevue Crescent with at least one traveling through the girl’s door and into her back exiting out of her chest.

The little girl was playing inside her family’s townhouse near near Lawrence and Weston Rd. when one man fired at a group of people sitting on an apartment patio early Thursday evening.

The child was rushed to Humber Regional Hospital by her parents. She was then transported by ambulance to Toronto’s Sick Children’s Hospital. Doctors have removed the bullet that struck her lung. She is now listed in stable condition at the children’s hospital.

Her pregnant mother, Sharlene Reynolds was escorted to Sick Kids Hospital by the police after 9:45 p.m. last night.

The police are looking for witnesses to the attack. They believe that two others were wounded in the attack and ask for those victims to come forward.

One person has been taken into custody as a person of interest. Police are looking for the gunman. Two firearms were used in the attack.

CBC reports:

“We’re going to leave no stone unturned until we find who has done this,” said Staff Sgt. Karen Smythe. “This is horrific.”

Constable Wendy Drummond of the Toronto Police told Digital Journal that the person of interest was released last night. At this time there have been no arrests or additional victims.

The area is becoming known for violence. Saron Ghebressellassie, 22, is quoted about the neighbourhood by the National Post:

“For every woman who has to walk home at night, it’s disgusting, an utter catastrophe. I fear for my life.

“It’s absolutely gut-wrenching to hear that it was a child. It’s become a social norm to come home and have, like, 10 police cruisers outside. I’m shaking right now. There’s a crisis in the neighbourhood. That could have been my brother and my sister. It’s devastating.”

In recent months there have been nine murders and many incidents where gunfire was involved. Neighbours blame gang wars for the gun violence, pleading for the police to end the blood being spilled.

Suzanne Gold, spokesperson from Sick Kids told Digital Journal that at this time they are unable to release any information about the little girl’s status.

Toronto Learning Center in Lockdown After Training Drill

An adult learning center in Toronto is in lockdown after people reported armed gunmen entering the building, ordering students to the ground. It turned out to be a training drill.

Police have responded to the Bickford Centre at Bloor and Christie Streets at 10:47 am Thursday morning. Police responded after a citizen called in to report that armed gunmen had stormed the building.

Police have no confirmation of anyone with a gun.

Later it was reveal that the school was in the middle of a drill. The police had not been informed of the drill.

For more than two hours the police had stopped traffic in the area.

EFT officers set up a command post on the northwest corner of the campus. They are ready for possible hand offs.

The Vancouver Sun reports:

“We’re trying to work out the legitimacy of the call,” said Const. Tony Vela early Thursday. “The area has been blocked off and emergency crews are on scene. We are going to assume this is a real call just to be safe.”

The area has been blocked off.

The center is holds English as a second language courses and citizen classes. It is part of the Toronto School System.

When Digital Journal called the Toronto School Board the media contact Terry said he had no information other than a report of a lockdown at the school.

Digital Journal talked with Tony Vela, spokesman for Toronto Police about the situation. “At this time the police are clearing the school.”

It is still unclear as to how many men entered the building or how many students have been taken hostage.

The TTC is affected in the area, but the subway station at Christie has not been closed.

Art Gallery of Ontario Announces Opening of Two New Exhibitions

This weekend the AGO in Toronto will open the Angelika Hoerle: The Comet of Cologne Dada and Painting as a Weapon: Progressive Cologne 1920–33.

These exhibits are to complement the current Surreal Things exhibition that explores art as a catalyst of social and political change.

The Angelika Hoerie exhibit is being presented by guest curator Angie Littlefield, grandniece of the artist. The exhibit shows the personal side of Hoerle.

Hoerle’s work from 1919 until her death in 1923 shows her political conscience. Even though her family, social conventions, personal tragedies and tuberculosis could not stop the passionate artist from her work of World War I Germany.

Most of Hoerle’s known works are on display on loan from the Yale University Art Gallery and Museum Ludwig Cologne. Following the showing at AGO the collection will travel to Museum Ludwig.

“Angelika Hoerle had a desire to change the world through political engagement,” says Michael Parke-Taylor, the AGO’s acting curator of European art. “She was deeply committed to left-wing politics and, in fact, her first prints were of Socialist political martyrs. She also explored the place of female artists in the male-dominated art scene in Cologne.”

The exhibit will be shown from May 23 until August 30.

Also opening on May 23 is Painting as a Weapon:Progressive Cologne 1920–33 / Seiwert – Hoerle – Arntz. The collection organized by Museum Ludwig examines the works of Franz W. Seiwert, Heinrich Hoerle and Gerd Arntz. Curator Lynette Roth will document the artists activities until their work was condemned as ‘degenerate’ in 1933 by the Nazi regime.

The exhibition shows how the Progressives used painting as a weapon during the hard years in Germany prior to the rise of Hitler.

“The rallying cry for Surrealism was ‘we must change life,’” says Parke-Taylor. “A desire to change themselves and the world drove the Surrealists to explore mysteries of the self and to value the irrational over the orderly. Angelika Hoerle’s works are harbingers of surrealism, while the Cologne Progressives seized painting as a tool for change in the midst of post-war economic and social crisis.”

The exhibit will continue until August 30.

Man with grenades breaches Serbian presidential headquarters

The headquarters of Serbian President Boris Tadic was breached today by a man carrying two grenades. Negotiations are underway to determine if it’s a hostage situation.

Security has taken one of the grenades away from the suspect. The second grenade is still with the man.

Police have surrounded the building, stopped all traffic in the area and a negotiating team has been sent to go to the building. It has been suggested that President Tadic is inside the residence.

It is speculated that the man is Dragan Maric, 57. Maric has sent various government offices emails about his plan.

According to Adnkronos the man was angry about a case that cost him millions in 2004.

Maric, a businessman lost the case against Serbian airline JAT. Since that time he has been fighting in the courts to get a reversal of the court decision. According to the email Maric is not intending on harming anyone other than himself.According to the email the man plans to blow himself up if the court does not rule in his favor in a case on Thursday.

AFP reports:

The man had “demanded in an email which he has sent to 11,000 addresses that his case should be resolved by 4:00 pm (1400 GMT). He is disappointed by a decision by a commercial tribunal,” the source told AFP.

“I demand to sign an accord on this problem with the government by 4:00 pm, otherwise the grenade will explode,” the source quoted his message as saying.

comment from Digital Journal Marko Andrejic

Maric has come to Presidency just before noon (CET). President Tadic has arrived at 2.30 PM. No hostages, no explosion. The man was taken away from the Presidency just before 5 PM (CET).

And The New Idol is…Kris Allen

Kris Allen has taken the crown on American Idol. Allen, considered the dark-horse contestant, won after almost 100 million votes were cast Tuesday night.

Allen was speechless when the announcement was made by Ryan Seacrest during the last minutes of the season finale.

E! Online quotes the new Idol:

“It feels good, man, but Adam deserves this,” the Conway, Ark., native protested. “I don’t know what to feel right now, this is crazy.”

The announcement came after a two-hour music filled night featuring Rod Stewart, Fergie, Cyndi Lauper, Carlos Santana, Kiss, Lionel Ritchie, Black Eyed Peas and ending with Queen playing “We Are The Champions” sang by Lambert and Allen.

Before the announcement Simon Cowell said:

“To both of you, and I don’t normally mean this, I thought you were both brilliant. …. The future’s all yours,” the judge said.

Allen, 23, a student from Conway, Arkansas will now have the treasured year-long recording contract.

Homegrown New York Terror Plot Stopped, Four Arrested

A homegrown terror plot was stopped Wednesday night in New York City. The apprehended men were reportedly planning to blow up two Bronx synagogues and shoot down a military plane.

After a year-long investigation, four upstate Newburgh, New York men were arrested in the Bronx at 9 p.m. Wednesday night.

The group was planning to blow up two Riverdale synagogues and then down a military plane with a rocket launcher. They were arrested as they planted fake bombs in front of one the Riverdale synagogues.

A friend of the suspects alerted the feds. He then worked with the FBI and the NYPD helping the police for months.

The suspects had what they believed was a Stinger missile in their car. The suspects were arrested after buying the missile from FBI agents posing as militants, who sold them what they thought was C-4 and the Stinger missile.

Police arrested ringleader James Cromitie of Newburgh and David Williams, Onta Williams and Leguerre Payen. The latter three converted to the Islamic faith while in prison.

Adjix quotes New York Mayor Bloomberg:

“I want to congratulate the men and women of the NYPD, the New York State Police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Joint Terrorism Task Force who tonight foiled a terrorist plot that targeted Riverdale Temple and Riverdale Jewish Center in the Bronx for bombing. The same plot also targeted U.S. military aircraft in Newburgh for Stinger Missile attacks. While the bombs these terrorists attempted to plant tonight were – unbeknownst to them – fake, this latest attempt to attack our freedoms shows that the homeland security threats against New York City are sadly all too real and underscores why we must remain vigilant in our efforts to prevent terrorism.”

The Amber Alert Is Not Used For All Missing Children

Why wasn’t Tori Stafford featured as an Amber Alert? While the police were searching as hard for the young girl she was not part of the Amber Alert system.

On April 11 Const. Laurie-Anne Maitland of the Oxford Community Police explained to Canada.com the reasoning behind Tori not being part of the Amber Alert notification system:

“There have been a lot of questions about the Amber Alert and why it wasn’t issued,” Maitland said Saturday. “At the time of the call coming in, we didn’t have what was required for an Amber Alert – not even close.

“At the time, we did not have a confirmed abduction . . . we did not have (information indicating) serious bodily harm or death and we have to have descriptive information of the child and the abductor and any vehicle.”

“When the criteria is not met, (the Amber Alert) is not done. It’s no less of an alert because it’s not called an Amber Alert. That’s one of the things that’s been difficult for a lot of people to understand – they have this belief that there’s something we could be doing that we’re not, when that’s not true.”

At a news conference today the police still are insisting that the criteria was not met for Tori.

While police were looking for a woman that Tori went home from school with on the day of her disappearance it was not thought she was abducted. Instead the police considered this a criminal investigation from the very beginning.

The Amber Alert stands for “America’s Missing: Broadcasting Emergency Response.” It was named for Amber Hagerman who was murdered in Arlington, Texas in 1996 at the age of nine. The program is in the United States and Canada.

AMBER Alerts are distributed via commercial radio stations, satellite radio, television stations, and cable TV by the Emergency Alert System (where they are termed “Child Abduction Emergency” or “Amber Alerts”), as well as via e-mail, electronic traffic-condition signs, the LED billboards which are located outside of newer Walgreens locations, along with the LED/LCD signs of billboard companies such as Clear Channel Outdoor, CBS Outdoor and Lamar, and wireless device SMS text messages.

The criteria for a child being placed in the system is:

1. Law enforcement must confirm that an abduction has taken place
2. The child must be at risk of serious injury or death
3. There must be sufficient descriptive information of child, captor, or captor’s vehicle to issue an alert
4. The child must be 17 years old or younger

Not all police departments use the second criteria when placing an Amber Alert resulting in many Amber Alerts focusing on parental abductions where it is not thought that the child is in risk of serious injury.

The only difference between Canada and the United States is who is notified. (RCMP instead of the FBI)

The sad truth about the children on the Amber Alert program is that there are many more sad outcomes than positive ones. Still the alert can at times save young lives.

Arrests made in missing Tori Stafford case (updated)

There have been two arrests in the case of the missing girl, Tori Stafford. The 8-year-old Tori has been missing from Woodstock, Ontario since April 8.

Tori’s father, Rodney Stafford said he and his wife were informed by police about the Tuesday night arrests.

The Canadian Press reports:

“Tara and I were both given a phone call last night and made aware that two arrests have been made,” Stafford told media. We’re not sure where from, who they are and they (police) didn’t give details on Victoria or anything like that.”

Tori was last seen April 8 leaving school with a woman wearing a puffy white coat. There have been extensive searches in the area of her home that have failed to produce any evidence of the child.

A private investigator has offered to help find the girl free of charge, saying that returning the child would be all the reward he needs.

The police gave a news conference Wednesday afternoon and the family was informed of Tori’s death last night. During the press conference, police revealed the following information:

The court date is May 28 and suspects were arrested yesterday. Police have arrested two natives of Woodstock, Ontario. Michael Thomas C.S. Rafferty, 28, and Terri-Lynne McClintic, 18, were arrested. Both are charged with abduction and Rafferty is charged with first-degree murder. McClintic is also charged with knowingly aiding and enabling Rafferty. The woman’s charges could be updated and she is being charged with crimes after the fact.

Police have yet to find Victoria and are still looking for the child’s body.

Police are not saying much more about the case, as they’re now working to give the Crown attorney a case for court. When Tori is found, the media will be notified.

Questions about how and when she died can not be answered at this time, and police are not commenting on the location at which they are currently searching for Tori’s body. Police suggest sexual assault may be also been a factor in this case.

Tori’s disappearance did not meet the criteria of the Amber Alert program, and police are not commenting on motive. They say, however, they are not anticipating any other arrests at this time.

One piece of evidence brought the police to where they are in their investigation, but that item was not identified.

Toronto Program Helps Poor Students With Educational Obstacles

The Models Schools for Inner Cities program has helped bridge community and several elementary schools in Toronto. The program is a grassroots effort to even the playing field in some of the city’s poorer areas.

The grassroots program, Inner City Advisory Committee (ICAC), has helped children with not only educational goals but by providing some basic health needs. Children in the schools that are in the program last year had vision and hearing tests for their students. The results were profound. Some of the children could not see the blackboard, some could not hear their teachers. The program not only tested but then helped parents obtain corrective surgeries, glasses and hearing aids for their children. The program is funded through The Sprott Asset Management Gift of Sight and Sound program in partnership with the Toronto Foundation for Student Success, Wal-Mart Canada and The Canadian Hearing Society. this program will carry over to 50 inner city schools again in September.

The program has shown that it works but it also faces an uphill battle as funding can be hard to obtain. It is asking for $8.5 million to be dedicated in the TDSB budget to maintain the Model Schools for Inner Cities program, $1.0 million be added to the MSIC budget to allow the support of up to 24 model middle schools and $2.5 million be added to expand the program to serve up to 30 secondary schools.

Seven schools in Toronto’s inner city are model schools, Firgrove, Nelson Mandela Park PS, Willow Park, Forest Manor, George Webster, Kingsview Village Jr. and Bala Avenue Community School. These schools all have one common thread, students who live in poverty attend.

As the Toronto School Board site states:

“This is our collective effort as communities, as a Board and as individuals to level the playing field for all our children,” said Sheila Cary-Meagher, TDSB Trustee for Ward 16 and Chair of the Model Schools for Inner Cities Task Force. “By working together with students, families, schools and the community, we can make a real difference in the lives of our children in poverty.”

The program started in November 2006 providing stability and a safe haven for the students. By developing partnerships with higher education institutions the education of the students have been able to provide support for the students. Every teacher has a teacher candidate from York University at one of the schools. One of the programs is a Saturday arts program with art and music.

Children are given snacks and lunches helping families even more.

Parent Michael Corniffe whose daughter attends Forest Manor feels his involvement is important. “Getting involved in this type of program is fantastic. It’s really beneficial to the kids in the school and in the community. The school is very dedicated to its parents.”

The program is not just for the students but their parents as well. There are monthly parent workshops. This month the program explores School Profiles and Principal/VP role in parent engagement at the school level.

One school in the program is George Webster ES. Principle Nancy Steinhauer discussed the benefits of being a model school: “The program has definitely helped my school. We have parental involvement and more community agencies now as a result of the program. Today some of the student are in fact out with community support workers getting glasses as part of the vision testing.”

The funding that the program provides really does level the playing field for Steinhauer’s students. The classes have all had opportunities to go on three field trips this year that are relevant to their curriculum. In a school that has a high poverty population getting funding for these types of events is rare. Fund raisers can only bring in what the community can afford, without the funding from the school board for Model Schools the children would not be getting as many of these precious memories.

The children are feeling safer in their school in just two years. 71 per cent of the students have said that they like going to school compared to 61% before the program. School spirit is at 80% now.

Parents have the resource of after school programs for their children at George Webster. 51% of the children no longer go straight home from school now, instead they are involved in safe and educational after school programing that doesn’t end until 6:15 p.m. each evening. In an area where there isn’t a close community center that’s a godsend.

This summer the children of the school will have a preschool program. By teaching skills earlier the kids will be able to thrive when they enter school. That fits in with the school’s goals of being a heart of the community. Steinhauer wants her parents to feel safe and welcome at her school.

Academically it’s early in the stages as to how much of an improvement there has been. The testing though is showing some very positive results. Before the program reading tests showed students below grade level. That has changed — this year the kids were on grade level or above at the start of the year.

Perhaps the most positive sign though is the lack of school suspensions this year. Not one children has had to be disciplined in that way.

Parents also are more involved with their children’s education at George Webster. Whether it is reading to their children from books in their first language or attending parent meetings the involvement has increased.

Last week Digital Journal talked with Cassie Bell, Inner City Project Coordinator. At that time she stressed how important the funding is for this program. Each year ICAC has to fight hard for the next year’s funding budget. The program has to as Ms. Bell says “rob Peter to pay Paul.”

“At what part do we stop yakking and get to work.”

It’s a positive program that is working for the schools involved. Hopefully funding will continue and the program will grow. Each school in Toronto deserves to be a model school, each student deserves the very best education that the community can provide.

A video of the program is located here.

Study Suggests Meditation Increases Brain Size

Meditation appears to increase the size of the brain according to results from a small study. Researchers using MRI scans found that the hippocampus of those who meditate is larger than in those who do not in their control group.
It’s been known for some time that meditation has positive benefits in dealing with stress and the improving the immune system. New research is showing that there could be links between meditation and brain structure.

Researchers from the University of California studied the brains of 44 people, half of whom had practiced meditation from periods ranging from five and 46 years. The group that meditated practiced different forms including Zazen, Samatha and Vipassana. Most of the group said that deep concentration was part of their practice and that they spent between 10 and 90 minutes a day in meditation.

Using MRI scans the scientists show that there was “significantly larger cerebral measurements in mediators”.

The Telegraph reports:

Lead researcher Eileen Luders said, “these might be the neuronal underpinnings that give meditators’ the outstanding ability to regulate their emotions and allow for well-adjusted responses to whatever life throws their way”.

Additional studies are required to understand if the increased size is because increased number of neurons, the larger size of the neurons or a particular “wiring” pattern mediators may develop.

Because of the very small study it can not be claimed that meditation increases the brain. It can be said that it is a possibility that meditate can stimulate brain growth.

Patent Wanted-Killer Chip Could Stop Person Dead In Their Tracks

An application for a patent was submitted in 2007 in Germany for a “Killer Chip” that could in effect kill a person implanted with it anywhere in the world instantly. The submission was published 18 months later into a patents database.
The device’s inventor is based in Jeddah. According to the patent documentation the device would emit radio waves that are picked up by satellites and could be injected into fugitives from justice, terrorists, illegal immigrants, criminals, political opponents, defectors, domestic help, and Saudi Arabians who don’t return home from pilgrimages for tracking. Those who are a security risk would have poison released into their blood stream killing them quickly in a more involved model that includes a cyanide capsule.

World Net Daily reports:

“I apply for these reasons and for reasons of state security and the security of citizens,” the statement reads.

The inventor of the ‘killer chip’ applied for the German patent using a Munich law firm. Germany allows for foreigners to apply for patents if they have a local representative. DTS Munich, the law firm involved in this patent resigned from the case last week.

Estate Vaults reports:

“While the application is still pending further paperwork on his part, the invention will probably be found to violate paragraph two of the German Patent Law – which does not allow inventions that transgress public order or good morals,” spokeswoman Stephanie Krüger told The Local from Munich.

How Women Can Prevent Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

There’s one birth defect that is 100 per cent preventable: fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. The only way to prevent this detect though is to not drink a drop of alcohol while you are pregnant.
When a mother drinks alcohol while pregnant she risks her fetus with each sip. The condition fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, or FASDs can affect the development of the fetus and cause lifelong learning and behaviour challenges. The condition is also known to cause birth defects in the heart, brain and other organs that last a lifetime. There is no cure for these conditions, only prevention.

It’s not known what amount of alcohol is safe for a mother to drink which is why the Centers of Disease Control recommends that pregnant women refrain from all alcoholic beverages during their pregnancy, that includes prior to the knowledge of being pregnant.

In the United States about 1 in 12 women use alcohol during their pregnancies. The condition happens in 0.2 to 1.5 cases per 1,000 live births.

Young girl dealing with breast cancer at the age of 10

At the age of ten Hannah Powell-Auslam should be putting pink ribbons in dolls hair instead of dealing with breast cancer. The young girl was diagnosed recently with stage 2 cancer, a rarity in young girls.
When Hannah complained to her mother of an itch no one could have thought that in days the girl would be having surgery a mass. The doctors didn’t expect to find cancer. because of that the surgery didn’t remove all of the tumor because it had grown into breast tissue. The mass was sent off for testing with the doctor reassuring the family not to worry because breast cancer does not happen with children.

Sadly the truth was that Hannah does has Stage IIA Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, an adult form of breast cancer.

Hannah had a mastectomy of her left breast on Thursday. When she is older reconstruction surgery, which she calls recreation surgery can be performed.

Sadly one of the sentinel lymph nodes have come back from pathology as positive for cancer. Still her doctor believes that Hannah can beat this disease. She has an 85 per cent chance of a five-year disease-free survival.

The family has had difficulty finding an oncologist that deals with breast cancer in one so young. They are working with the doctors at UCLA Medical Center who deal with adults going through the disease.

Her battle with cancer is being journaled at ourlittlesweetpea.com, a site started by her uncle and father.

If you would like to support Hannah the family is accepting donations.

Joshua Witter Sells I-Told-You-So Cards For Those Left Behind

According to many Christians when the second coming of Christ happens those who are non-believers will be left behind. Atheist Joshua Witter sells cards to Christians who want to send a message to their loved ones when that happens.
If the Rapture comes Joshua Witter will be busy for a few days. He has about 70 cards to deliver from those who left behind their loved ones.

The Orlando Sentinel quotes Witter:

“Anyway you look at it, I’m screwed. It’s too late for me,” said Witter, a 24-year-old computer software engineer who wears long sideburns and hip black-framed glasses.

Witter started his website Post Rapture Post as a joke in 2005. He didn’t expect to receive orders for his wares. He had sold more than 200 items, mostly to his friends and fellow atheists.

One of his best sellers is a line of I-Told-You-So cards. The cards sell for $8.
the cards are all stored on his computers ready to be delivered if the end of the world really comes.

He knows if the end does come he’ll be painfully covering the miles in boils dealing with insects, darkness and meteors to deliver the cards.

“Your hope lies with me. I am your mailman,” he vows. “I’ll do my best come Hell or high water to deliver those letters.”

What the Public Wants From News Media

What do the masses want when it comes to a news sites? Is it the hard news that takes time to collect or quick jots to keep everyone updated in one place? A small survey was done for DigitalJournal.com to discover those answers.
News is happening everyday all around us, but what is it that the public wants? Do we want to be informed or do we want to be entertained?

Does what we want depend on our age, career or social settings?

Setting out to find the answers I asked 100 men and women from around the globe what they wanted in a news source. My goal was to have at least 1/5 of the surveys returned.

The survey was taken by 25 participants. The age of participants was from 19 to 72 with being the median age of 44.

16 males and 9 females answered the survey.

One student responded, two of the participants were disabled, careers ran the gamut from IT techs, web developers, construction consultant,engineer, management in the software industry, editors, writers, journalist, mental health worker and a translator.

Of those offering their social-economic status three are dealing with money issues and the remainder of 12 are in the middle class.

The survey was sent out to people in Australia, Europe, Africa and North America. At least two from each area responded with the majority of responses from North America.

The survey consisted of five questions about news media and then the above information. I did not divide the survey answers into the statistics of which gender wanted what as the results showed that all genders were divided in areas of division and visa versa.

Participants were also asked if they had additional comments concerning the news media. A sampling of those comments are:

I simply believe in the old news values: Audience, Impact, Proximity, Prominence, Conflict, Human Interest. These don’t change, in my opinion. And the story should answer the Four Ws and an H. Some opinion can be included, as long as it is near the bottom and can be seen as such. -CS

In general, I look to the news for facts. Opinions are available everywhere, at any time. Facts are more rare and thus more precious. And you can use my name as long as it’s associated with factual content

I Like to know what’s going on in the world and if issues are being reported they should be tracked. I like to have an understanding of what is going on with local politics, arts and innovation and I always love a feel good human interest story to renew my faith in humanity.-TB

Now it’s time to examine the results of the survey.

What do you want in a news source?

Overwhelmingly those who took the survey read the news for facts. They expect their news source to be well balanced and the source to be known for accuracy. People wanted their news to be unbiased. While the article can be short readers want more than a few sentences to digest. They also want today’s news and they want it fast.

The need for hard news is also mixed with the need for human interest stories. Gossip is not something that news readers are a fan of.

Readers like a mix of writing styles also. They also expect the articles to be well written, lacking spelling errors, proof read and fact checked. Readers want to be able to trust the information that they are consuming.

Some of the comments from this question are:

I have varying news sources that I go to for varying reasons, I like quick concise reports and the in-depth reporting that some provide.

Good writing is essential. Prompt news-breaking articles are important too, and I am a big fan of science and research articles, particularly space exploration, of which there are not nearly enough in my opinion

A wide range of subjects, well written, fact based, across ethnic and racial lines done with thought and good documentation.

varied, unique, research based,attributable stories that tell me local and international events in more than one 2 sentence paragraph…

A few things. It should be objective & un-biased. It should be comprehensive and broad enough to include news beyond the tiny focus of the typical western media. It should be NEWS – i.e., however much a fan I am of Obama and his adorable family, their pet dog is NOT news to me. Nor is Britney’s latest disaster.

A balanced offering of daily news from around the world. I want to hear both sides of a story (especially in politics) and have every question answered. The “who, what, where, when, why and how” questions are very important.

Adding context, applicable photos/media and building a community is always appealing.

Most of all, credibility.

Do you like opinion based articles?

Survey takers were divided on opinion based articles with 12 in favor, 8 against and one person saying that sometimes they enjoyed them.

One theme that came across clearly was that people do not tolerate news articles are in reality opinion based ones. They also are very much against articles that have an ‘anti’ message.People have very strong opinions on this issue as a selection of the comments show:

Not unless the opinion is the icing on the cake – the bulk should be facts.

If the opinion has intelligence behind it.

I detest out-and-out “anti-something” opinion, aka “I detest Jews/Arabs” when they are written with overtones of violent thought.-MC

With documentation not just shoot from the hip, unless it is done first person with the person someone who has some authority by education or experience relevant to the opinion, for example like a scientist who gives an opinion on the swine flu and whether it will spread and the political implications or a counselor who gives opinions on why people cry a lot and whether or not that is associated with just today’s stress or not, whatever. Again not shoot from the hip unless supported with facts of some sort. -CF

Yes, very much so. Especially if the “news” is as I described above. I enjoy a well-informed, well written article that posits a point of view, especially if it’s different from my own. How else to learn if your own assumptions and views aren’t challenged occasionally?-JO

Do you want long involved reports?

This question was evenly divided with survey respondents. Eleven want long articles, six want shorter articles and six said that it depended on the subject matter.

Reports should be as long as needed to cover the subject. If they are long and involved, that’s fine. It depends again on the subject.
through and to the point.

When issues are ongoing they should be covered for the duration, not just sporadically as other stories deteriorate.

Absolutely…although it doesn’t always have to be long. I like the idea of “executive summary” type stories, followed-up with more in-depth reporting, so I can choose to read/learn further on particular stories that interest me.

Do you want just the facts?

Of the 21 who answered this question most (15) do want just the facts in an article. The other six wanted a mix of facts and background about the story issues.

It is important to have a balance of facts with flavor.

I think background to the facts would also be needed.

I don’t mind some speculative angles if the reporter has proven he has done his background, or that reporter has proven some expertise. but if they are expressing “facts” that favour an interest they have, I want disclosure…

All news should be based on fact, even the opinion pieces.

If the article has pictures does that bring in more interest?

The overwhelming majority want pictures to illustrate a story with 21 positive responses. People also wanted those pictures to be relevant. While it can take time to find the proper pictures to work for an article it makes sense to seek them out or provide your own photos when writing an article.

Pictures definitely intrigue the viewer. It will stimulate more parts of the brain and that’s what news is all about: stimulation and entertainment-MC

I want to thank those who took time to answer the questions. Hopefully the answers you gave will be reflected in future articles not only at digital journal but from other journalists who read this article. It is my hope that the answers can provide journalists some insight into their audience’s needs.

They Are United In Death, The Five From Camp Liberty

Six men’s names will forever be connected by the stresses of the Iraq War, five will be remembered by their loved ones as the other waits his fate in military custody.
On Monday John Russell allegedly walked into a stress clinic with his gun and opened fire. In the wake five bodies littered the ground. Two of the dead had devoted their time in the service to helping those suffering from stress and three had been fighting their own demons within the clinics walls.

Navy Cmdr. Charles Springle was a Sanford Central High School graduate in North Carolina. His career in the Navy was devoted to treating those who dealt with the stress caused by the frequent deployments to the battle fields. He fought hard to take away the stigma that clouded the troops from seeking help.

AP reports:

“He regarded it as very important work,” said Bob Goodale, a friend of Springle’s and director of behavioral mental health for the Chapel Hill, N.C.-based Citizen-Soldier Support Program. “We all who work in this know that it is difficult. This is an example of how difficult.”

Lubbock Online reports:

“Major Houseal was a beloved, kind and generous physician and soldier, who volunteered for additional duty in Iraq to care for our servicemen and women,” said William Biggs, an Amarillo endocrinologist who works in the same group as Houseal’s wife. “To honor the memory of Major Houseal, we have established an education fund for the benefit of his six children.”

Dr. Matthew Houseal, a psychiatrist and major in the Army Reserve was at the clinic because he felt it was the place he needed to be at. He had enlisted as an Army reservist after becoming alarmed at the rising suicide rate in the armed forces. The father of seven had worked as a psychiatrist for Texas Panhandle Mental Health Mental Retardation in Amarillo.

Armarillo.com reports:

“He was dedicated to his patients. He was a family man, very thorough diagnostician,” said Bud Schertler, executive director of Texas Panhandle Mental Health Mental Retardation. “We couldn’t ask for a better psychiatrist.”

Army Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, 25, of Paterson, N.J. was Eugenia Gardos’ youngest child. He was on his second tour of duty in Iraq when he was gunned down at Camp Liberty.

The young man who joined the service after finishing high school had come to the US from Peru as a child. His family remembers how he used to hand out candy to the kids in Iraq just as he did as a young man at home.

Military City reports:

About 10:30 p.m. May 11, Army officials showed up at the door of the place Christian shared with his wife a few blocks away.

“We were all here at home,” Carlos Bueno said. “I was getting ready to go to bed when I heard screaming downstairs. I ran downstairs and everyone had thrown themselves to the floor, thrashing around, screaming.”

“We want people to know we’re proud of our son’s Army, but if my son had died in war we would be able to handle that,” he said. “But not to die in this manner.”

He leaves behind his family and a young wife.

Spc. Jacob D. Barton, 20, of Lenox, Mo. was a quiet student who loved graphic novels and science fiction. He followed his older sister into the Army after graduating high school last year. Barton was known for sticking up for the kids who were being picked on in school.

The Army told his family that Barton died a hero, using his body as a shield to protect another man while trying to convince the gunman into putting down his weapon.

Pfc. Michael E. Yates Jr., 19 leaves behind an infant son. He followed his stepfather and stepbrothers into the Army. At the age of 17 he completed his GED and signed up for service. He had told his mother about meeting Russell, saying that the man had issues.

Yates was at Camp Liberty to deal with the stresses of the battle field knowing that he needed help to get through the hard times.

He had been home just last month to celebrate his son’s first birthday.

Alexis Mister, 18, of Seaford, Del., and the mother of Michael Yates’ son Kamren, said he was an extremely caring father. “He was always was concerned with Kamren so much,” she said. “He loved him.”

Mister said Yates came home in April for the boy’s first birthday party and doted on his son by buying him a four-wheeler. “It’s absolutely devastating,” Mister said, choking up during a telephone interview discussing Yates’ death. “My son doesn’t have a father anymore.”

Regardless of where a soldier dies he is a hero. He or she has offered up their life for the service of others.
4 votes

Pfizer Program To Provide Free Medication To Unemployed In US

Pfizer, Inc. is announcing a new program on Thursday that will help those who have lost their jobs and health insurance remain on their medications.
The program will allow those who have been taking Pfizer medications including Lipitor and Viagra to receive the pills for up to a year free of charge.

The company will be providing more than 70 of its prescription drugs to Americans who became unemployed and uninsured regardless of what their prior income was as of January 1. To qualify a patient would have had to have been on the medicine prior to October 2008.

New York Daily Times reports:

“Everybody knows now a neighbor, a relative who has lost their job and is losing their insurance. People are definitely hurting out there,” Dr. Jorge Puente, Pfizer’s head of pharmaceuticals outside the U.S. and Europe and a champion of the project, told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Wednesday. “Our aim is to help people bridge this point.”

To sign up for the program applicants have to sign a statement saying that they are having a financial burden and provide a “pink slip” or some form from their former employer. The program will accept applications until December 31 and those accepted will be provided up to 12 months or until the person is covered by insurance.

Patients may call 866-706-2400 to sign up for the program or sign on to PfizerHelpfulAnswers.com.

Pfizer has seven programs that offer free or reduced cost medication.

Pfizer employees proposed the idea to the company’s senior leadership team last month. The employees have also donated some of their own money to help with the costs and the Pfizer Foundation is matching those donations.

“The current economic environment has added considerable new stress to the daily life of millions of hard-working Americans, and our colleagues are responding to help their neighbors in the communities where they reside,” said Jeffrey B. Kindler, chairman and chief executive officer of Pfizer. “The speed with which we created and approved this program is proof of our commitment to help people access the medicines they need to live healthier lives. With the launch of this initiative, which I am proud to say was proposed by our colleagues, we are doing what we can to ensure that recent loss of employment does not preclude people from managing their health.”

Canadian Military To Pay For Medical Marijuana For Qualified Vets

Medical marijuana is now being paid by Canada for certain military veterans who qualify. Payments will be made to veterans who are licensed by Health Canada to have the medical cannabis if it is obtained by a firm in Flin Flon, Manitoba.
The approval came down the pipe in October but it is just now being made official to qualified veterans. There are approximately eight veterans who qualify for the program in Canada.

The Canadian Press reports:

“These guys (the federal government) want to stand up for veterans’ rights,” said Bruce Webb, a Comox, B.C., veteran who successfully pressed Veterans Affairs Minister Greg Thompson for the about-face.

“They want to help.”

Webb, one of the eight, was paying out of pocket $490 for cannabis as he attempted to survive on his disability pension.

Some have said that the marijuana produced by the plant is too weak to do much good but Webb says that his pain caused by a 1999 sports injury is controlled by the product.

Turkish Police Mistakenly Fire Tear Gas At School

Dozens of children have been hurt after Turkish police made a mistake, firing a tear gas canister into a school in the town of Altinsehir.
Police were in responding to a disturbance over the decision of local authorities to tear down unlicensed buildings with water cannons and tear gas. Protesters were filmed throwing stones at the police and setting fire to tires.

About ten children aged seven to 15 had to be taken to hospital from exposure to the fumes. Tear gas irritates the eyes, nose, mouth and lungs.

A four-month-old infant was also taken to hospital when another of the canisters was fired into the window of an apartment building.

Winnipeg researcher charged with smuggling Ebola material into US

A Canadian scientist has been arrested on charges of trying to smuggle 22 vials of genetic material from the Ebola virus into the United States. The vials were stolen from the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Konan Michel Yao,42, was on route to his new job with the National Institutes of Health at the Biodefense Research Laboratory in Bethesda, Maryland, when the border patrol stopped him. It is alleged that he was carrying the vials wrapped in aluminum foil, stuffed inside a glove and then packaged in a plastic bag inside his car’s trunk when he was taken into custody.

Yao reportedly admitted he stole the vials on Jan. 24, his last day of work at the Winnipeg-based lab. Testing of the vials showed that they were not hazardous.

At no time were the citizens of Canada at risk from the stolen vials Dr. Frank Plummer, the scientific director general of the lab, said. The vials contained “basic biological materials including the Ebola gene for vaccine development,” reports indicate.

The Winnipeg lab deals with infectious diseases and was in the news after Swine Flu samples from the Mexican outbreak were sent there for the first identifications.

According to authorities, Yao was never in contact with Level 3 and Level 4 pathogens. He had access to a Level 2 lab which carries samples that are often available at hospitals and universities.

Yao worked at the lab in a fellowship position. He was taking the vials, according to reports, in order to have a head start at his new position at the Bethesda lab. He reportedly said he didn’t want to start over with his research.

Officials did not notice the samples were missing for several months because regular inventories of non-infectious materials are not routine.

The National Terror Alert reports:

“This turned out not to be a terrorism-related case,” he said by telephone from North Dakota. “It appears to be exactly as he Yao said. However, he still faces possible charges for smuggling the vials into the United States.”

Yao remains in U.S. custody. He has waived his right to bail and preliminary hearings. He could face a possible grand jury indictment for smuggling.

A Public Health Agency of Canada spokeswoman is quoted by National Terror Alert:

“was working on vaccines for the Ebola virus and HIV, among other things. But he only had access to harmless and non-infectious materials, similar to what you’d find in a hospital or university lab. He did not have access to dangerous materials.”

The Globe and Mail reports that Yao would have likely been given access to the vials had he requested it prior to taking them:

“One of the ironies here is that if this individual had, through appropriate channels, made a request for these materials, it’s quite likely he would have got access to them,” Dr. Plummer said.

Yao was born in the Ivory Coast. He studied at Laval University in Quebec.

Craigslist Stopping Adult Ads, Will Lawmakers Go After Others?

Within seven days Craigslist will have removed the “erotic service” section from their US sites. This is a good step but what about ads in local newspapers for the same services? Will newspapers remove those?

New posting for adult services will now come with a price tag on Craigslist. The cost will be $10 for the first posting and $5 for any following posts.

Craigslist has been targeted by the media for having the ads after one of the ads lead to a murder in Boston. But what about crimes that stem from other newspaper adverts? Are they heading for the chopping block also?

Craigslist has worked with the police when an ad is targeted. An electronic trail helps to quickly catch criminals that use the service. They also post personal safety tips.

The craigslist blog reports:

Our announced intention to contribute 100% of net revenues for the “erotic services” category to charity has been fulfilled, and will continue to be fulfilled, notwithstanding criticism questioning our good faith in this regard. However, in light of today’s changes, and to avoid any future misunderstanding, we are making no representation regarding how revenue from the “adult services” category will be used. Our commitment to philanthropy remains, and craigslist will continue to develop its charitable initiatives.

Every week daily alternative papers features pages of sex ads. They find fund the smaller papers. Eye Weekly is one of those papers based out of Toronto. Owned by Torstar digital their adult ads are online but require a person to click a button saying they are 18.

When Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan stated to CBS, “It’s clear to everyone that Craigslist’s erotic services section was nothing more than an Internet brothel,” Madigan said in a statement. “I’m encouraged that Craigslist has agreed to fundamentally change how they operate and monitor their site. The steps they’re taking are the only effective way to prevent the exploitation of women and children.” Did she stop and look at the weeklies published in her state? The Chicago Reader has adult ads and it is online. Is Madigan going after this paper as well?

Craigslist is famous and that’s what makes it a target. If the lawmakers want to be fair though they need to either target all or none of publications that carry adult ads.

UK Loophole Turns Pub Vault Into Smoking Room At least For Now

No smoking in the pub is the law of the land but cleaver Kerry Fenton found a loophole for her establishment. Fenton’s pub is now a “Smoking Research Centre” letting patrons smoke while they down an ale.

Friend James Martin found the loophole in Section 9 of the 2007 Smoking Act. That loophole states that smoking ‘research’ can be undergone as long as there is no through bar.

Kerry’s bar The Cutting Edge has a vault that could apply with the exemption. Now the vault is a bar onto itself with a sign on the door labeled “Designated Smoking Room.” Patrons fill in a questionnaire about their smoking habits before they are allowed to light up.

The vault may have saved Fenton’s bar for a time.

BBC reports:

Fenton told BBC News: “This is something we really had to do, I didn’t have a choice.

“We have had estate agents bringing people to actually view the property because it’s up for sale.”

The owner of the pub, Punch Taverns is not happy though and neither are the Barnsley Council. Both are planning to putting the smoking room out of business.

The Barnsley Council’s Regulatory Services department planned a visit to the pub on Wednesday to let the establishment know that they may be wrong in their interpretation of the law.

The building has been put on the market by Punch Taverns who condemns the decision their licensee made.

The Daily Star reports:
The Home Office said: “It’s the Department of Health’s responsibility.”

But the Department of Health insisted: “It’s up to the Home Office to enforce the law.”

Slamming To The Word White House Style

For the first time ever slam poetry was in the House. The White House, that is. On Tuesday night the First Family hosted the poetry event for 100 people.

Last year Obama promised while on the campaign trail that he would bring poets and musicians into the White House to “open up the White House and remind people this it is the people’s house.”

He has already made good that promise with concerts by Fergie, Stevie Wonder, Sweet Honey in the Rock and Earth Wind & Fire since taking office. Tuesday night though was the first Poetry Slam, a form of poetry that takes the word and brings it out with energy as the verses are performed.

Tonight’s event features James Earl Jones; poet Mayda Del Valle, novelist Michael Chabon, jazz musicians ELEW and Esperanza Spalding and playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda, not the average mix for the urban poetry form.

NBC New York reports:

“It’s an incredible honor any time to receive an invitation from the White House and President Obama,” said Arizona Rep. Krysten Sinema, who is among the 100 people invited to attend the event. “But to see our nation’s talent and be a part of history at the first-ever White House Poetry Slam is amazing. I’m very excited to be a part of this moment.”

Opinion: Inside Toronto’s Gun Violence, No Excuse When Kids Are Dying

hen I moved to Toronto it was during the summer of gun violence. To someone from the States it really didn’t seem so bad, after all it was handguns. It’s amazing how much an attitude can change in just a few years. Today violence shocks me, as it should.

Toronto is now dealing with a spat of gun deaths in the West Side. Senseless murders, young lives lost. When 14-year-olds are gunned down in a field and left to die something is indeed wrong.

These gun wars have nothing to do with the recession. They are a sign of the times though, desperate acts from desperate people. There is no justification. Drugs could be the motive but that can’t be the entire answer. What has happened to our youth that makes pulling the trigger even be in their thought process?

When Basil Bryan, 23, was shot in the chest, laying on the sidewalk there is footage of someone just walking on by. Has the city become that callous?

How many times will words of shock and grief be printed in newspapers like City News after Daniel Da Silva died.

“I’ve known him since he was a little kid,” said Will Roque. “What are you going to say? (His mother) is hysterical, crying, I don’t even think she’s going to the coroner’s office.”

“That’s one of the best kids in the world,” adds family friend Vitalina Rolo. “I can’t say anything bad about him, nothing.”

Kids standing at bus stops aren’t even safe.Jarvis St. Remy, 18, was gunned down in the street waiting for a bus.

City News quotes Mayor David Miller:

“Imagine being a mom, your son being gunned down like this, it’s just heartbreaking for everybody,” he said. “We just simply have to get at the guns and get them off the street.”

So what can be done to stop this violence? One answer is education. In Toronto there is one program that started in 2004 called Inner City Advisory Committee (ICCA).

Digital Journal spoke to Cassie Bell, Inner City Project Coordinator about what her program does for the youth in at-risk areas. The group works with 7 elementary schools with a total of 50 schools being touched by the program to bring a more level playing field to the early educational game. With hard fought for grant money the program last year was able to have hearing and vision tests given to students at the model schools. What they found was confounding. There were children who were in need of vision surgery, children who were deaf. Working with partnerships those children were able to be treated. Once treated, kids who had been behaviour problems in school started to be star students according to Ms. Bell.

“At what point do we stop yakking and get to work. We have to deal with the problems now.”

The program is showing results. It also like many programs that work has to fight each year for the funding to continue.

MP Mario Silva sent Digital Journal the following statement:

Of course I am concerned about gun crime in my city. Our police service works very hard to keep the streets safe and I have always been fully committed to giving them the tools they need to do their jobs properly.

More than that, along with my colleagues in the Liberal Party, I have stood up against any attempts to weaken our current gun legislation.”/quote]
In September it was announced that Toronto was taking action to prevent crime in Toronto to the tune of more than $4.9 million in funding for a project that is aimed at preventing and reducing street gang activity.

Public Safety quotes Toronto Police Chief William Blair:

“A meaningful approach to prevent and reduce crime must start with an intelligence-based, targeted enforcement approach, along with a strong community mobilization component, such as our effective Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy, but it must build on TAVIS, to encompass government and community initiatives and involvement to be truly effective,” said Toronto Police Chief William Blair. “Today’s announcement furthers the process of keeping Toronto a safe, vibrant, and diverse city.”

The money will to go to:

* addressing early risk factors among vulnerable children and youth;
* preventing youth gang and drug-related crime;
* preventing recidivism among high-risk groups; and
* fostering crime prevention in Aboriginal communities.

Yet the crimes are getting worse, the deaths more frequent. With the millions being tossed around what is being done at the street level? One program that has gotten funding is the TAVIS program. The program partners the communities at risk with Toronto police officers. The Toronto Police web site states the goal of the program:

We expect that TAVIS will reduce crime, particularly violent crime, in neighbourhoods across Toronto. It will also help the community to take charge of their own neighbourhoods; you and your neighbours will have the primary role in solving problems and preventing crime.

In the next few weeks look for more in-depth articles about school programs that work in Toronto and the TAVIS program in Toronto.

Adrian Johnston, 14, Shot Down In West Toronto

Police in Toronto are looking for the person who killed Adrian Johnston, 14, on Monday afternoon. The young teen was gunned down in a field near Scarlett Road and St. Clair Avenue.

Shocked neighbours heard three shots and saw a man running away from the scene. They raced to the boy as he lay dying in a pool of blood from wounds in his chest, stomach and shoulder.

The Toronto Star reports:
“I’ll never forget that image,” Melanie Cebry said, holding back tears. “All I saw was a kid – a child – lying on the ground alone.

“I want his mother to know he was not alone. A lot of people were there and we all tried to help him.”

A tarp covered the child’s body at the scene for hours as the police combed the area.

The man running from the scene is described as male, black, 5′-5′6″, dark pants, dark hoodie and a bandana covering most of his face.

Adrain attended Runnymede Collegiate Institute in Toronto. Spokesman John Caldarone told Digital Journal that the school’s focus at this time is to support the students who are grieving at this time. There are grief counselors at the school to help the children with this.

Adrain is the 18th murdered person this year in Toronto, the fourth in the area where Johnston was gunned down. Jarvis St. Remy, 18, was another gunned down just a few blocks away at a bus stop just last week.

Police have not commented on a motive for this latest shooting. When Digital Journal spoke with the police department they said a press conference will take place at 2 p.m.

9 votes

Playing The Swine Flu Prediction Game

British researchers have stated that by the time the swine flu has moved into the new year a third of the world will have been infected. It’s a reasonable prediction. The truth is predicting is all that science can do at this stage in the swine flu game.

The last flu pandemic that left millions dead was in 1957. The swine flu could spread as widely as that strain of flu but because of medical advancements the death toll should be much lower according to researchers at London’s Imperial College.

Sky News reports:

Prof. Ferguson said: “What we’re seeing is not the same as seasonal flu and there is still cause for concern – we would expect this pandemic to at least double the burden on our healthcare systems.”

“However, this initial modelling suggests that the H1N1 virus is not as easily transmitted or as lethal as that found in the flu pandemic in 1918.”

Studies are now showing that the swine flu is fatal in around four of every 1,000 cases.

When a person becomes infected with the virus on average they pass it on to between 1.2 and 1.6 others.

This suggests that the new strain of flu is more easily spread than seasonal flu but less infectious than other strains that lead to previous flu pandemics.

The one thing that is known for sure about this pandemic is that we don’t know for sure how the game will play out. That is a becoming the overall theme when it comes to the swine flu. We just don’t know what to expect.

Gazette.net reports:

“I think the right answer is we don’t have all the information yet, and anyone who is predicting what we’ll see from this day forward is hoping to get lucky,” said Dr. Ivan C.A. Walks of Potomac.

Walks is part of a six-member Swine Flu Medical Advisory Board, holding conference calls with O’Malley (D) at least once a day to discuss new developments in the illness, also known as the H1N1 virus.

That’s what has been tossed about with the CDC and WHO. There is no denying that the swine flu will touch most people’s lives in the Northern Hemisphere by the end of the fall but hopefully because of medical advancements it will not be as deadly as other pandemics.

The reason that the strain will be considered milder is that we have advancements in the medical sector and much better pandemic planning than in the past. Global communications allow for rapid staging before the illness is in the lead.

Of course it’s all a roll of the dice in the end. The models, patterns and predictions may be right on the mark or they may be out to lunch.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

“Disease outbreaks are fundamentally unpredictable in detail,” argues public-health academic Philip Alcabes, author of “Dread.” Instead of looking to physicians to predict epidemics, “we should leave the job of seeing the future to the mystics, prophets and fortunetellers.”

This is a time period for the scientists, researchers and doctors to deal with what will come hoping that they are prepared enough to deal with it. Having reasonable markers as predictions help the science community prepare for the worse scenarios. If the worse case does not pan out it could well be that it was because of the preparation time given to the science community.

KYW Newsradio 1060 Philadelphia reports:

Dr. Stephen Ostroff, Pennsylvania’s acting physician general, said last week that a lot of what’s been learned about swine flu, so far, has been somewhat reassuring, however:

“I always look to the great philosopher Yogi Berra, who once said that predictions are always difficult, especially about the future. And one of the things that we’ve always learned about influenza is that it’s very unpredictable.”

Because of the disease being relatively mild much of Europe has played down the concern. Experts have been warning though not to let down guard until the flu season hits in the fall. That will be the true marker of the swine flu as it battles it out with seasonal flu.

Four Toronto Hospital Employees Test Positive For Swine Flu

Four staff employees from the University Health Network in Toronto have tested positive for swine flu. Of those that have the virus only one had had direct contact with the patients.

All of those who have the virus have mild cases and should be healthy soon according to Hospital president Bob Bell.

Two of the employees came down with the virus from within their community.

The other two cases were in contact with one of the community-acquired cases while they were at work.

CTV reports:

“It’s not an unsafe environment,” Dr. Susy Hota said Monday night. “They should continue to go to their scheduled appointments and their treatment’s important.”

Patients who are experiencing flu-like symptoms should contact the hospital for directions of what action they should take.

CDC Media Briefing: 3 confirmed deaths in US

The CDC has confirmed that there have been three confirmed deaths from the swine flu in the United States. Currently there are 94 cases of hospitalized severe cases in the US and a total of 2,600 confirmed cases of swine flu.

The median age of swine flu holds at 15 years of age. The oldest person to be confirmed with the virus is 86.

“We know that at this time we are not winding down when it comes to H1N1. We don’t know what is going to happen in the Southern Hemisphere. We don’t know what the new virus will do in the future,” said Anne Schuchat, M.D., Interim Deputy Director for Science and Public Health Program during Monday’s media press briefing.

The tracking of the swine flu in the southern hemisphere is very important for the northern hemisphere as it will give clues as to what to expect in the fall when seasonal flu season hits. While it is of importance, it can not be stressed enough that the flu is unpredictable. There is no telling if the swine flu will be more widespread than seasonal flu during the fall or if it will continue to spread throughout the summer.

The CDC now has a tracking map for the public to view where the cases are in the United States.

Dr. Schuchat said that confirmed cases are just the tip of the ice berg. It is possible that there have been other deaths from swine flu that were not identified but there has not been an increase over the baseline of expected deaths. Those other possible deaths are not so many that they would be a public health concern at this time.

As to questions of over-reacting to this outbreak is a question Dr. Schuchat explained that the world has changed since the 2003 outbreak of SARS. Public health groups globally are working together so that concerns are quickly given to other countries and that those countries can be on the lookout for suspected outbreaks.

“It is clear that we have a novel virus circulating throughout the United States. It is clear the general population is susceptible to this virus. Ideas of investing in a vaccine are very prudent at this time.”

One concern worth mentioning is that on the misuse of anti-viral medications. Drugs like Tamiflu must be properly used so to avoid the virus from becoming immune to the medication.

Shooting at Camp Liberty in Baghdad

A U.S. statement has been issued about a shooting that occurred at about 2 p.m. at an American camp in Baghdad. The shooting took place at Camp Liberty. Five coalition soldiers were killed.

Five coalition soldiers have been killed in a suicide/murder at U.S. Camp Liberty in Baghdad. Nationalities of the slain soldiers have yet to be revealed.

This is a breaking news story.
AFP reports:

“Five coalition forces members were killed in a shooting at Camp Liberty in Baghdad today at approximately 2 pm (1100 GMT),” the statement said.

MSNBC reports that a U.S. service member opened fire on his fellow soldiers. Four were killed in the attack and several more were injured. The soldier is now in custody.

Details will be added as they come in.

update 1:While initial reports indicated that the shooter had committed suicide it is now unclear how and if he was wounded.

update 2:The New York Times reports:

Reuters quoted Marine Lt. Tom Garnett, a military spokesman, as saying “the shooter is a U.S. soldier and he is in custody.”

The attack according to CNN took place at a clinic that deals with soldiers suffering from war stress.

update: All of those who were killed are US personnel but it is yet to be confirmed that they were all military service members.

Roxana Saberi Freed from Iranian Prison

Journalist Roxana Saberi was freed from a Tehran jail on Monday, according to her father. Reza Saberi says his Iranian-American daughter’s sentence was reduced.

A lawyer in Iran representing Saberi has confirmed that on Sunday a deal was imminent after a five-hour closed-door appeals hearing. Now free, the young woman will be allowed to leave the country immediately.

The Telegraph reports:

“The verdict of the previous court has been quashed,” lawyer Saleh Nikbakht said. “Her punishment has been changed to a suspended two-year sentence and she will be out of prison.”

On April 13 Saberi was convicted and sentenced to eight years of jail for “cooperating with a hostile state.” Her trial lasted only one day and was the cause of outrage globally.

The Iranian court has now reduced her term to a suspended two-year sentence on the condition that she is banned from reporting from Iran for the next five years.

NPR President and CEO Vivian Schiller said the network was “overjoyed” at the news of Saberi’s impending release.

“We are … grateful to everyone who has shared in our efforts to gain her release,” Schiller said Monday. “Roxana is an established and respected professional journalist and we look forward to her return to her craft.”

Ms. Saberi has worked for US National Public Radio, the BBC and Fox News.’

What You Order May Not Be What You Get At Toronto Sushi Places

When one orders sushi at their favorite Japanese restaurant they assume they are getting what they ordered. That thought would be wrong in many Toronto sushi spots according to an investigative report from the Toronto Star.

“It would be an extraordinary circumstance if they didn’t provide what was on the menu,” says Henry Postulart when asked if he expected red snapper when he ordered it from a sushi place. When he was informed that was not always the case, “I would expect it to cost less if it was tilipia.”

In Toronto according to a Toronto Star investigation not getting what you order seems to be a common practice. Collecting 12 red snapper sushi samples from across the city the newspaper had them tested in the lab. Of the 12 samples only one was actually red snapper. One of the sushi samples was from red seabream and the others were all tilipia. The fish samples were tested and matched using the renowned Barcode of Life DNA database at the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, University of Guelph.

The reason is the price tag. Tilapia costs about one-fifth of the cost of red snapper.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency allows four species to be identified as red snapper and 24 as snapper. Not one of the allowed fish however are tilapia or seabream.

As a side note, crab meat is also often artificial crab. If a person has a milk allergy crab meat in sushi needs to be avoided.

While an experienced sushi chef would easily be able to tell the difference between snapper and tilapia most consumers haven’t a clue. So how do you insure that you’re enjoying red snapper sushi? The only way to be sure that your sushi is what you want is to make it yourself.

“The authentic way is to get a whole fish and fillet it yourself,” says Bruce Bu, owner and chef at Yuzu on Adelaide St. W. He lists two tais on his menu. One is described as “red snapper from Japan,” another as “snapper from Greece.” DNA tests showed the former is red seabream.

Toronto Mayor Miller Issues Statement About Tamil Protest

Toronto Mayor David Miller is asking the Tamil community to relocate their protest to a safer location after the group protested on the Gardiner Expressway Sunday.

In a statement that Mayor Miller released Sunday evening he expressed the right for the group to protest but not in areas that endangers the public’s safety.

“Toronto’s Tamil community is understandably concerned about what is
happening to friends and family in Sri Lanka. They have an absolute right to
make those concerns known and to protest. Endangering public safety by
occupying the Gardiner or other public highways is not the right way to make
that statement.
“Like all Torontonians, I want to see a peaceful end to the conflict in
Sri Lanka and hope members of the international community, including the
Federal Parliament, will use their influence to see that humanitarian aid
flows to the affected area.
“I am confident the Toronto Police Service will ensure that public safety
is preserved and protected.”Close to 2,000 of the Tamil community in Toronto shut down both lanes of traffic on the Gardiner Expressway as the group marched up ramps at Spadina Avenue. The group is protesting the civil war in their homeland of Sri Lanka.

This most recent gathering came one day after reports that at least 378 people were killed from an all-night artillery in the war zone.
The Toronto Star reports:

“The community is asking for a representative from the Conservative government to come meet the community and assure them that serious economic or diplomatic sanctions will be placed on Sri Lanka,” said Shyanthy Thezarajh, 24, a spokesperson for the Tamil protesters.
“There’s been a massive impact on each and every individual here. And they’re pretty much trying to get the media to understand what’s going on in the hopes that the issue would come to the world stage and some kind of meaningful solution will be achieved for Sri Lanka right now,” she said.

The true numbers of those killed are hard to pinpoint as journalists are not allowed in the war zone nor are aid workers.
Police are requesting motorists to use public transit or use routes other than the Gardiner to get to the downtown.

Mother’s Day Suicide Causes Evacuation In Toronto

Toronto was the scene of a suicide by poisonous gas on Sunday when a York woman released what is believed to be hydrogen sulfide into the airing killing herself and threatening others.

The woman had called the police mid-morning to say she was taking her life using a chemical cocktail. When the police and fire department arrived the smell of rotten eggs was coming from the residence. That smell was the cause of nearly 50 homes facing a Mother’s Day evacuation.

The National Post reports:

“Our initial response was an evacuation, believing there may be a potentially deadly gas in the air,” said Capt. Adrian Ratushniak, of Toronto Fire Services, adding that chemicals were, indeed, later found in the home. “We were aware that there could be a danger to other people in the area.”

Moderate exposure to the chemical can cause eye irritation, sore throat or headaches. If one inhales a high concentration death is the outcome from suffocation.

The woman on Empress Avenue was already dead when the authorities entered her home in HazMat uniforms.

By 10:30 a.m. police were knocking on doors to evacuate residents. L.C. Lee was one that was told to leave immediately.

“He didn’t tell me why, just that I should take what I need and leave as soon as possible,” said Mr. Lee, after returning to his home around 2 p.m. “I just took my keys, my wallet, some money, and my phone. I had to leave my dog,” he said, adding that he and his wife spent the nearly four hours wandering the neighborhood and watching as the scene unfolded.

This type of suicide is a rare event in Toronto. In Japan it has become a more common way of killing one’s self.

Texas Wants Women To Pay For Rape Kits, Then The Story Gets Worse

When a person suffers a crime and then is charged for a test because of it there should be screams throughout the land. The noise found Texas should be deafening where women are getting billed for rape kits.

CNN News reported that Texas has been charging the victims of sexual assault
for the test that law enforcement uses to go after their attackers. Rape kits can cost up to $1,800 and hospitals are filing insurance claims for the victims to foot the bill. What’s more some Texan women have been told that until they pay up the investigation against an attacker will not begin.

Texas is not alone in charging for this test. In the town of Wasilla, Alaska victims were also charged for the tests until the state government outlawed that practice. The same holds true in North Carolina where victims were asked to cover some or all of the cost until the Raleigh News & Observer newspaper alerted the public of the practice.

A rape kit consists of bags for clothing, a comb to collect pubic hair, test tubes for blood collection, swabs for DNA checks and fluid, and a series of tests for sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy and DNA collection.

Perhaps even more more shocking is the revelations that some police departments don’t even bother with processing rape kits. Last year the Los Angeles City Police Department had over 7,000 untested rape kits that were sitting idle.

City Watch LA reports:

A representative of women’s issues has been quoted as saying, “When a rape is committed, the victim’s body is the crime scene. They consent to its search in the same way that a person who has suffered a property crime consents to a search of their home, though it’s themselves these victims are opening to inspection.” To treat evidence gathered at that excruciating moment in their lives by not testing it, she said, “betrays the victim’s faith in the criminal justice system.”

The California Chronicle reports:

In his testimony, Assembly member Anthony Portantino credited both the City and County of Los Angeles for publicly making the commitment that they will be testing every kit in their possession. Mr. Portantino added, “I have introduced AB 1017 to ensure that every community in California has the same assurance that all evidence of rapes and sexual assaults will be processed and collected to identify and punish those guilty of crimes.

Each test costs about $1,000 to process in Los Angeles. New York City had a backlog in 1996. They decided that was unacceptable and opened up more labs within the Medical Examiner’s Office. Turnaround now is within two weeks.

In Chicago labs routinely take a year to finish the reports from the tests. That gives the attackers more time to wander around free and clear.

The Chicago Tribune reports:

The General Assembly, which appropriates money to the state crime lab and other state agencies, was also in the dark, said state Rep. Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs). “We were lied to,” said Durkin, who sponsored legislation in 2007 calling for the audit of the state crime lab. “To know how to handle this, it’s extremely important that they act in a transparent way.”

Until crimes against women are considered as important as those against men this type of behavior will continue.

Courts using Facebook profiles as evidence more often

Posting your life on Facebook may not be the wisest move for criminals and those in civil lawsuits. Courts are using the information from the social networking site more often as part of their evidence.

One such case is that of Dennis Terry, a Newfoundland man who was going for a settlement after suffering whiplash from two car accidents in 2001 and 2003. Terry was hoping to get money for the harm his social life suffered after the accidents. Terry also claimed that he was unable to move well enough to play pool, a favorite past time.

Enter to the court Terry’s Facebook profile that showed he wasn’t really sitting at home by his lonesome.

CTV reports:

“He went to and hosted parties, attended weekend outings at summer cabins, drank alcohol frequently, smoked marijuana daily and appeared to have a number of friends with whom he communicated and socialized on a regular basis,” Adams wrote in his April 17 ruling.

“I find it incredible that Mr. Terry’s social life miraculously improved in the few months he was communicating on Facebook and that for the remainder of the time from 2001 to 2007 he essentially had no or little social life. Without this evidence, I would have been left with a very different impression of Mr. Terry’s social life.”

Terry had been hoping for a $1.5 million payout, he was instead given $40,000 for his pain and suffering.

Facebook was used in a trial in Australia recently when Mark McCormack used the social network to track down a couple that owed him money. When the couple moved and were unable to be contacted through regular means McCormack turned to Facebook and it provided. The documentation from Facebook was excepted by the courts because it included their names, dates of birth and listed each other as “friends”.

Slashdot reports:

“Lawyers for Janice Roman, the defendant in the lawsuit, believe information posted on John Leduc’s private Facebook site — normally accessible only to his approved ‘friends’ — may be relevant to his claim an accident in Lindsay in 2004 lessened his enjoyment of life. As a result of the ruling by Justice David Brown of Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice, Leduc must now submit to cross-examination by Roman’s lawyers about what his Facebook page contains. Brown’s Feb. 20 ruling also makes clear that lawyers must now explain to their clients ‘in appropriate cases’ that postings on Facebook or other networking sites — such as MySpace, LinkedIn and even blogs — may be relevant to allegations in a lawsuit, said Tariq Remtulla, a Toronto lawyer who has been following the issue.”

One woman believes that Facebook and other social networking sites could prove to be more useful in court cases than DNA. Gill Smith whose son was murdered spoke out on the matter when it was revealed that up to 850,000 profiles of innocent people were part of the 4.5 million on an official database in the UK.

This Is Bristol reports:

Referring to social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo, she said: “If people are law abiding, it shouldn’t worry them at all. I would be more concerned about what was on the Internet than having my DNA profile held on file because there is so much information out there.”

“What we campaigned for was taking DNA profiles with the permission of the individuals concerned,” said Mrs Smith. “We believe that if a policeman knocked on your door and asked for DNA, most people would say ‘yes, keep it’.

“It wouldn’t worry me if my DNA was taken. If all the records were taken at birth, no one could complain they were being singled out.

“In Europe they are digging up the soldiers from the First World War and using DNA so relatives can find out where their loved ones are – it’s not just for criminals. DNA profiling has other uses as well.”

British Journalists Deported From Sri Lanka

A team of journalists from Britain has been deported from Sri Lanka after they produced a report about the alleged abuse of Tamils.

Nick Paton-Walsh, producer Bessie Du and cameraman Matt Jasper from London-bases Channel 4 reportedly admitted that they had been in the wrong according to Lakshman Hulugalle, the head of the government security information center. The government will not allow them to return to the nation because of that.

The reporters though deny that they admitted being int the wrong. Gulf News quotes Paton-Walsh who spoke the the AP in Singapore.

“This is complete rubbish,” he said.

Walsh said he, producer Bessie Du and cameraman Matt Jasper were detained by police in the eastern town of Trincomalee and asked to give a statement, but he refused.

Walsh believes that the incident happened over his most recent report on the conditions of the war refugees and of alleged sexual abuse of those inside the refugee camps.

Sri Lanka has denied the report on Channel 4 that claimed dead bodies are being left where they lay, there are food and water shortages and sexual abuse ongoing in the displacement camps.

The trio were in the country legally on valid visas and had been reporting for the last few weeks on the conditions of the Tamil people

Sri Lanka has been in a civil war since 1983 with the Tamil Tigers. Since that time at least 70,000 people have lost their lives from the battle.

Opinion: Is Waterboarding Part of Loving Your Neighbour?

Love your neighbour, treat him as you would want to be treated. That’s one of the backbones of the Christian faith. So why hasn’t there been a loud Christian voice when it comes to torture on American shores?

Surveys from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press believe that the use of torture when it comes to terrorist suspects is justified. Those who attend church regularly are the staunchest supporters of this type of torture.

Isn’t that against the belief system though? I seem to recall a tale of cast the first stone, but I could be wrong. It must of been if you cast the first stone I will scream loud and hard, but if I throw it there was a reason for it.

When did it become okay for the American government to do onto others what they would have killed others to do unto them?

If another country tortured suspected Americans on mass to get out a ‘confession’ they would be considered the enemy. Remember the Vietnam War? Korea?

Guess what America, there’s a reason that America is now considered the enemy by other countries.

Do unto others and all that jazz.

Christianity Today reported in 2007:

“Terrorism may be perceived as a genuine threat to American society and its families,” said John Green, senior fellow at the Pew Forum. “In the 1980s, Christian conservatives were also strong opponents of Communism and the Soviet Union.”

Breaking down the Pew Study it wasn’t just religion that was on the side of torture, political views were another factor. It’s not that surprising that more Republicans say that torture can be justified than Democrats. Education also plays a part, the less education a person has ramps up the chances that they will be in favor of waterboarding as a justified means to an end.

But it’s the Christian voice that contradicts a belief system with the realities that concerns me the most. Peace is another word for torture? Treating your brother to humiliation is fine if they are thought to be on the wrong side?

Maybe, it’s even simpler for me. The theory that I was taught long ago in Sunday School was that two wrongs never make a right.

Somehow I don’t believe that ideal has changed.

Stem Cells And What They Mean To You

On May 9, Cafe Scientifique hosted a discussion titled “Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine and Personalized Medicine: Where are we now and where can we get to?” at York University in Toronto.

The event was part of the city’s Science Rendezvous. Stem cells are in the news a lot these days, from the ethics of their use to the rapid advancements that they have brought to medicine and drugs.

The CIHR (Canadian Institute of Health Research) hosts several Cafe Scientifique’s around the nation each month. The Cafe’s are a way for the public to get a better understanding of different health issues by discussing topics with the real experts.

The latest for Toronto, “Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine and Personalized Medicine: Where are we now and where can we get to?” had a smaller than average turnout due to the rain that kept many inside today.

Three experts discussed their work with stem cells in a clinical setting and in a broader setting, the ethics of use and what they can help or not help with.

Dr. Andras Nagy is part of the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute in Toronto. He started off the lecture with a background on stem cells.

In 1960 Dr. Gordon Keller discovered the human embryonic stem cell while working in Toronto. Dr. Keller was working on cancer research at the time and had no idea where that discovery would lead. Canada has been on the front lines from that beginning and remains so in the field of stem cell research.

In 1981 pre-floating embryonic stem cells in the uterus were discovered in mice. Research from that discovery showed that from one embryo every type of stem cell in the body could be grown in a petri dish.

What have we learned from the humble beginnings? That the human body is made up of 30,000 genes. That apart from bacterias and viruses almost all diseases that face humans are a mutation of one or more of those genes.We also have had to deal with the ethics questions as researchers have found that from just a few embryonic stem cells new life can be created. In 1993 Dr. Nagy knew that mice could be made from stem cells from a mere 10 cells.. Sheep have followed. the news has gone wild this spring when a researcher attempted again to clone a human baby.

Ethics has been a big part of stem cell research, mostly because of where human embryonic stem cells come from, fetuses. Today though most of the human embryonic stem cells that researchers work with come from IVF labs where the ‘parents’ have donated their cells. In Canada and many other countries only a small number of human embryonic stem cells are allowed to be used with each IVF procedure but the ‘harvesting’ process makes between 10 to 15 embryos. Parents can use the additional embryos in future IVF treatments, donate them to other infertile couples, have them destroyed or donate them to science. Nagy believes that by donating these cells to science the couples are rescuing human embryos in a real sense.

There are some drawbacks to stem cells being used in medicine. One is, like organ donation stem cells have to be compatible to the person that they are helping. If they are not then the body will reject them causing even greater problems.

One powerful breakthrough for researchers came in 2006 when it was discovered that it was possible to generate stem cells from skin cells. Using the HIV virus researchers were able to find the genes that had to be removed that left a clean cell. By removing four genes from the skin turned stem cells researchers are able to work with a fresh cell that can be turned into any type of cell.

Researchers have been able to stop type 2 diabetic sufferers from having to use insulin by transplanting pancreatic cells into diabetics. There is a limitation though. Within two years the body goes back to the diabetic state and the mean for insulin comes back. That has told researchers that we are still not at the stage that we can repair genes completely. But in the future that could happen.

When asked about the ‘evils’ about science Nagy compared those in science for the wrong reason with a kitchen knife.

“It’s a big dilemma. Take a kitchen knife. It is useful in the kitchen but can also be used as a deadly weapon. We don’t blame the knife.Stem cell research is the same. The benefit is worth more than the harm.”Dr. Ron Pearlman, Professor of Dept. of Biology, York University was the next to speak. His field focus with stem cells is very personal; the structure, organization and expression of genetic information as it deals with personalized medicine. He and his colleagues are working on ways to analyze a person’s DNA and then sequence it rapidly to identify health risks.

This field has come leaps and bounds within a fairly short time. At the beginning of this decade it cost a person $100 million to know their personal DNA genome. Today that cost is a mere $1,000.

A large spectrum of diseases stem from one single base change in a cell. By learning more about these changes researchers are now able to pinpoint risk factors when studying a person’s DNA. Associate studies of stem cells and DNA have added to a database that helps in the process of going from looking at the population as a whole to each individual person.

At this time many companies like 23 & Me and KnowMe are jumping on the DNA database wagon. Even IBM and National Geographic are teamed up. That team can give people a little information about their ancestors just by looking at a sample of their DNA.

In a more medical sense what these databases in the pharmaceutical genome tell us is that medicine is not a one size fits all. Years ago doctors thought that adult medicine just needed dosage changes when giving it to a child. That science research has uncovered does not work. Children, women and men all have different risk factors that affect medicine. That’s important. Every year 12 to 15 per cent of hospital admissions are a result of adverse drug reactions.

One example of these drug reactions took place in Toronto. An infant died from morphine overdose at Sick Kids Hospital. How could that happen? Why on earth would doctors give an infant to much morphine. The answer is simple, they didn’t. What they did do though was give the right dosage to an infant that was nursing. That infant’s mother was also taking a medicine with codeine in it. In breast milk codeine breaks down and becomes, you guessed it, morphine.

‘Many in the science community fear that they are being held back. We’re in danger of losing the pipeline of information and of innovative ideas. We have to build the building up from the ground instead of from the roof.We, in the science community need for the government to step up and push for more funding.”

As we move into more personalized medicine there are questions about ethics and privacy that will have to be addressed. Will insurance companies be allowed to use the information of risk factors that DNA reveal to deny coverage?

“Science is way ahead of ethics. Ethics has to catch up to science instead of the other way around. We can not hold back research. It’s too important for the society.”

Stem cell research makes medicine safer for the population. We are past the time for using mice on medicine trials. Mice prolong the trials. Things do take time but let’s do what we can to speed up the process.David Brener, PhD. from Pfizer Canada Inc. was the final guest to speak Saturday.

Dr. Brener started off with a question, “What doesn’t personalized medicine do? We can’t cure everyone. We can though start picking patients who will respond the best to medicines.”

By using genetics Pfizer is able to help reduce adverse effects of medications. Genetics allows the company to enhance safety while researching conditions and diseases that medication is used for. It is enabling us to make ‘designer drugs’ at a more rapid pace. In the end stem cells and genetics reduces the time that it takes to develop new drugs at much less the cost than in the past.

In Toronto and Canada we have a wealth of research ongoing. Research is unlocking the academic teaching hospitals making us a leading center of the world for stem cell research.

“Nothing in life is 100% sure. The net benefit vs. net losses shows the miracle of the pharmaceutical industry, by in large we are the breeding ground of the future.”

The health of humans is changing. We are reaching a point where we may be able to reduce the onset of diseases as we learn more about stem cells and the genetics of conditions. This is of great value not only to the individual but to the economy and society as a whole.

We, as researchers will make mistakes and pick bad markers. We won’t always be on point like we have been with Huntington’s Disease, which we now can say 100% if a person has the markers unless they are hit by a car or die in some other manner will come down with the disease. While there are the times researchers think they have gotten something down and then find that they were wrong, it’s those mistakes that are learning processes. The best researchers learn from their mistakes.

When I asked the doctors on the panel about the swine flu vaccine they were hopeful. Asked if Canada will be the one to come up with the final product I was told that it’s possible but what was most important is that it is found, not who finds it. As for Canada, we have the infrastructure in place to be in the lead.

As for where stem cell research is going there is no telling. We can’t predict the future but there is a future. There’s no telling when or where the next big breakthrough will be but we do know it will be exciting. That’s how research is, just a step away from the next big step and it’s always an amazing adventure.

Edsworth Searles Laid To Rest Today In Toronto

Once in a while a person rises through the ranks quietly and impacts the lives of many. Such was the life of Edsworth Searles. He was the first black called to the bar in British Columbia. In Toronto he was a lawyer for thirty years and so much more.

If you live in Toronto and have a friend from the Caribbean you can thank Mr. Searles. In the 1950s he was part of a delegation that went to Ottawa asking Canada to open the immigration doors for those in the islands.

Newcomers knew the man. His home had an open door policy at dinner time on Thursday and Sunday. Newcomers, students and domestics had a home away from home with a tasty home-cooked meal. That along with Searles advice helped many Torontonian.

The Toronto Star reports:

“We are better off for these people,” Itah Sadu, owner of A Different Booklist says. “They were very decent folk, ordinary working-class people who done good. Their superstardom is the stuff we are made of. It’s special for us because they are us. We can touch them and laugh with them and hug them and recognize the place they hold for us.”

Born in Toronto, raised in Barbados, Searles returned to study law at the University of Toronto after marrying his life long love Kathleen. He worked at the post office and at the railroad to afford his family and his education.

“You don’t have to ask what a black man did in the ’40s; either you worked on the railway or as a shoeshine boy,” Edsworth told the Star in 1996.

Today he will be laid in the ground. He is survived by three daughters, Kathleen, Marjorie and Sylvia, and two granddaughters. Sylvia Searles-Elam is Mayor David Miller’s special assistant and a veteran in employment equity and race relations at City Hall and Queen’s Park.

University Requires Students To Buy iPhones

Columbia University is requiring their new freshman have an iPhone when they start the MU School of Journalism this year. Letters were sent to the incoming class telling them to show up at campus this fall with their iPod touch or an iPhone.

The associate dean of the Journalism Brian Brooks said that the device is going to be turned into a learning device.

The Columbia Missourian reports:

“Lectures are the worst possible learning format,” Brooks said. “There’s been some research done that shows if a student can hear that lecture a second time, they retain three times as much of that lecture.”

The reason for the item to be on the required list is for the students on financial aid. If an item is on the required list a student can list it in their financial need estimate.

Students who can’t afford an iPhone won’t be penalized for showing up without the Apple product.

Not all of the students are happy with the requirement. Elizabeth Eberlin has started the Facebook group, “Rotten Apple” to let her anger out.

“I really like my Apple computer, but I don’t think people should be forced to buy one brand of computer or one brand of anything,” she said. The Facebook group’s description calls into question the School of Journalism’s relationship with Apple, citing a possible conflict of interest.

Lectures will be recorded for all students. The school is installing Tegrity that records the professors lecturing. Lectures can then be downed through iTunes U which is a free content download hosted by universities.

At the end of the year MU will evaluate if the program was successful. That evaluation will determine if it will be offered for students in 2012.

Giant Ragweed Strain Could Be Resistant To Herbicide

t could be bad news for allergy sufferers, researchers from Guelph’s Ontario Agricultural College have found a giant ragweed biotype that has shown resistance to the herbicide glyphosate, surviving rates that kill normal weeds in tests.

The results are still in the preliminary stage researchers are stressing.

“We’ve seen a difference in control of this giant ragweed biotype than what is normally expected when sprayed with glyphosate,” said Prof. François Tardif of the Department of Plant Agriculture.

“Glyphosate has become a tool of choice for the control for many weeds, so the appearance of a glyphosate resistant population can complicate management for growers,” added Peter Sikkema, a plant agriculture professor at the University’s Ridgetown Campus, who conducted the research with Tardif.

So far Canada is in the clear from the herbicide resistant weeds but there are eight species confirmed in the United States. Worldwide there are 15 weed species – including giant ragweed – have been confirmed as resistant to glyphosate.

The affected giant ragweed population was discovered in Essex County late last year in a small area of a 580-acre field of Roundup Ready soybeans. The strain was only found in one area scientists stress.

The University of Guelph reports:

“This is a very serious situation,” Sikkema said. “In other jurisdictions, most glyphosate-resistant weeds biotypes have been effectively managed with other herbicides and cultural practices. We’ll continue our research so we can make recommendations to growers on effective control options.”

Sick Kids Hospital Part Of Canada’s First Fetal Heart Surgery

Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children and Mount Sinai Hospital have successfully operated on a fetus to correct a heart problem.

The doctors were able to expand the infant’s aortic valve using a balloon catheter.

The device, inserted through the mother’s abdomen and then into the baby was able to reverse heart failure.

The team included Dr. Edgar Jaeggi, Head of the Fetal Cardiac Program at SickKids, Dr. Greg Ryan, Head of the Fetal Medicine Unit at Mount Sinai and Dr. Lee Benson, Director of the Cardiac Diagnostic and Interventional Unit at SickKids. The doctors were able to do the valve procedure allowing baby Oceana to remain in the womb for an extra month.

Sick Kids reports:

“The fetal intervention was minimally invasive for the mother and lifesaving for the baby,” says Ryan. “Our ability to repair the aortic valve at 31 weeks gestation allowed the fetus to grow and thrive for four more weeks in the mother’s uterus, resulting in a bigger, healthier baby at birth with decreased likelihood of additional health risks. Had the baby been delivered at 31 weeks, the heart’s left ventricle could not have been saved. The collaboration of expertise between SickKids and Mount Sinai saved this infant’s life.”

Mother Vicki McKenzie of Ottawa was 30 weeks pregnant when an ultrasound sounded Oceana was suffering from Critical Aortic Stenosis, meaning there was severe narrowing of the main outlet valve of the left ventricle. McKenzie was quickly taken to Toronto and offered the option of the experimental procedure.

“They have saved my daughter’s life. Having access to the expertise at these two hospitals was a comfort. I could confidently have my baby at Mount Sinai and know that she would immediately receive the urgent care she needed across the street at SickKids,” says McKenzie.

“The intervention recovered Océane’s ventrical function completely. It is operating at a normal level now. We hope this successful collaboration opens the door to giving other babies a healthier start in life,” says Jaeggi.

Oceane McKenzie was born April 15. She has had two procedures since her birth. She is now recovering and should be able to go home soon.

The first fetal cardiac surgery was performed in September 2001 at Boston’s Children’s Hospital.

Baby ‘Jack’ was a 23-week-old fetus when doctors opened a his aortic valve with a balloon catheter. The procedure saved his life. When he was born he did not require further surgery and is being followed by Wayne Tworetzky, MD in the cardiology clinic. The child may in the future have to have another aortic valve dilation.

Paula Abdul denies report she went to rehab

When the Ladies Home Journal reported that Paula Abdul admitted conquering addiction they may have gotten it wrong. That is the story from Ms. Abdul who says she is not nor ever was an addict of painkillers.

The magazine claims the actress went to La Costa Resort and Spa to detox for 30 days last November.

That’s a lie, according the Abdul, although the singer is more focused on getting back to her musical career than discussing if she has a drug problem. She issued a statement saying that she is not an addiction and the claims that she went through rehab are false.

“Media reports that I checked into a resort for ‘detox treatment’ to overcome a drug addiction are false. I spent three days–not 30 days as reported in the media–at the La Costa Resort and Spa last November. I spent time hiking, bicycling, doing yoga and enjoying the spa. As anyone who has visited the La Costa Resort knows, it is a luxury hotel, not a rehab facility. “I want to make it perfectly clear to everyone that I have never been addicted to or abused drugs in my life. I have never been drunk. I have never entered a rehab or detox treatment center.”

E! Online reports:

When asked if she planned to sue the magazine, Paula wouldn’t say yay or nay: “That’s what my handlers [will deal with].” She added that she would be issuing an official statement to the press shortly. Check back here later for an update.

I spoke to Rachel, one of La Costa’s concierges, who said the resort does not have a program for addiction rehab; however it does offer mediation retreats but they are not part of a rehab program.

Rachel’s statement contradicts the report in Ladies Home Journal, as it’s difficult to complete a drug rehab program when there isn’t one offered.

The magazine is standing by its claims.

A representative for the magazine told E!, “We stand by our reporting and are happy that Paula decided to share her journey with us.”

Toronto police issue public warning-HIV positive man arrested

A Toronto man, 28, has been arrested and charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault for allegedly failing to notify his HIV positive status to his partner.

Sahand Mahmoodi was arrested by Toronto police on Thursday. He is scheduled to appear in court next week after his first appearance on Thursday.

The police will be using the time prior to Mahmoodi’s court appearance to gather more evidence. They are asking people that may have had sex with the man to come forward. They have issued a public safety alert out of worry that there are other victims.

The police have the difficult task with complying with privacy laws while still warning people of a risk.

CBC reports:

“He did frequent the Church and Wellesley area,” said Const. Brad Stapleton with the Toronto police sex crimes unit. “We know he had sexual activities with other individuals and we have reason to believe he may not have disclosed his HIV status at that time.”

According to the Toronto police Mahmoodi has known of his HIV status since 2000.

Anyone who may have had sexual contact with him is asked to call police at (416) 808-7474.

FEMA evicting Katrina trailer dwellers at end of May

t doesn’t matter though that FEMA programs meant to house those in the trailers have failed to do what they have been funded to do. May 31 is the last day the trailers will be allowed for the still homeless Katrina victims. They may not have a place to go but FEMA isn’t interested, at the end of May families must leave the trailers that the agency rented out to victims of Katrina. Letters have been sent and received by the residents saying to vacate their trailer on May 30 or face legal action.

The New York Times reports:

“All I can say is that this is a temporary program, it was always intended as a temporary program, and at a certain point all temporary programs must end,” said Brent Colburn, the agency’s director of external affairs. He said there would be no extensions.

More that 4,000 Louisiana homeowners have only gotten money to rebuild their homes in the last six months. They are the lucky ones, many more haven’t any funding to help them rebuild their damaged homes. There hasn’t been time nor the money for those victims to have their former homes ready by the deadline that will take away their temporary housing at the end of May.

The promised 500 Katrina Cottages have yet to make it onto streets. Meant to replace the FEMA trailers they each cost $25,000 to build. Despite a $74.5 million grant to get the homes finished in time for those living in the trailers no one will be moving from their trailer to a cottage.

NOLA.com reports:

In their responses to the audit, the LRA and Cypress offered similar explanations: It’s not our fault, and we’re making progress.

Rep. Neil Abramson, D-New Orleans, called that “typical finger-pointing that accomplishes nothing.”

“It’s taken a long time, and we’re just not getting anything done,” Abramson said. “It’s the typical government bureaucracy at its slowest.”

At this point the homes should be finished by September 17, 2009 according to FEMA. Of course LRA Executive Director Paul Rainwater has backed away from 500 to 300 units as a more realistic goal.

Construction has only begun on two sites: one in Baton Rouge and another at Jackson Barracks in New Orleans. The Jackson Barracks units will house state Military Department employees.

NOLA reports:

Rainwater said Monday, “We are making progress in the program, with infrastructure under construction at Jackson Barracks, slabs poured and framing under way at sites in Baton Rouge and environmental reviews well under way in other locations.”

The Katrina Cottages are part of the Road Home program for single-family homeowners.

It’s not just those in the trailers that will be out on the curb at the end of May, those being housed in hotels are also about to lose their funding.

Most of those still in the trailers and hotels aren’t able to just run out and get a good paying job to help keep a roof over their heads after the levees broke during Hurricane Katrina. Those still in the trailers are mainly the elderly, disabled or both, including double amputees, diabetes patients, the mentally ill, people prone to seizures and others dependent on oxygen tanks.

The New York Times highlighted the plight of Phillipp Seelig, 70. He is a retired handyman who expects to be living on an empty lot when FEMA hauls away the trailer he’s been residing in at the end of May.
He didn’t release the needed grant to elevate his home to the required height until December. His duplex should be ready to live in around July.

“They had helped me out up until this point, and I couldn’t believe that they suddenly decided, no, we’re not going to let you finish the house, we’re just going to take the trailer, and you can sit here on an empty lot,” said Philipp Seelig.

The government’s stance is that they have bent over backwards to help people get housing and that they just haven’t taken it.

Those interviewed by the New York Times have a different story. Take the case of Troy Porter, 47, who has been in a hotel since last June. He suffers from depression.

“The only time I’ve seen FEMA workers was in the last couple of weeks, where they come and give you the paper saying this month is your last month,” Mr. Porter said. “They handed you the paper, and they turned around and walked off.”

Last year a program to unveil a more intensive caseworker system for those in temporary housing by the Louisiana Recovery Authority never made it past the paper. Now that authority is asking homeless service groups to help those who will be homeless at the end of the month.

FEMA is saying that it has offered to sell the trailers to residents for as little as $300. That is the opposite of what those in the trailer say is happening. They are asking to buy their trailer and being told they can’t do that.

Jane Batty, Mr. Seelig’s longtime tenant, who has her own trailer next to his, was not surprised. “There is only one way to categorize this kind of behavior: it’s crazy making,” she said. “They’ve always had a different answer or had a different ploy to get us out of trailers that we had already agreed to buy.”

Friedman Resigns From Federal Reserve

Stephen Friedman, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s board of directors, has resigned on Thursday. The resignation is effectively immediately.

The Deal Book Blog reports that Friedman’s resignation letter states:

Mr. Friedman said his public service on the board was being characterized as “improper” despite his compliance with the rules. “The Federal Reserve System has important work to do and does not need this distraction,” he said.

The announcement came after it was revealed that Friedman remained on the board of Goldman Sachs, that he holds a substantial amount of shares in that company and that has continued buying shares even after Goldman came under the Federal Reserve’s supervision.

CNN reports:

“Today, although I have been in compliance with the rules, my public service motivated continuation on the Reserve Bank Board is being mischaracterized as improper,” Friedman wrote in his resignation letter. “The Federal Reserve System has important work to do and does not need this distraction.”

In December Friedman brought 37,300 shares of Goldman worth at that time $3 million. Those shares are now worth $17 million according to the Wall Street Journal. He did not check with the Fed about those buys. In January Friedman picked up another 15,300 shares the day after the waiver was granted.

CNN reports:

“With respect to Steve’s purchases of Goldman shares in December of 2008 and January of 2009, which have been the object of some attention lately, it is my view that these purchases did not violate any Federal Reserve statute, rule or policy,” Baxter said in a statement.

Toronto Student Wins NASA Contest, First for Canada

ric Yam, a student at Toronto’s Northern Secondary School has won the grand prize in a NASA Space Settlement Competition beating out more than 300 students across the globe.

Yam is the first Canadian in the 16 years that the NASA contest has run to take home the prize. His version of a Utopia tied with a team from Orissa, India.

The design that Yam came up with resembles a cylinder and could house 10,000 people and support 300 tourist in the world 2050.

Named after the Egyptian goth Thoth, Asten’s hotel would include a panoramic outer gallery with transparent walls for watching the earth, moon and stars.

The Toronto Star reports:

“The most challenging part was to combine all the different aspects – the technology that would work in space combined with a social design, a government system and life-support systems,” Yam said yesterday.

“He basically built a Utopia from scratch,” said math and physics teacher Gillian Evans, staff advisor on the project.

Yam also competed with a team from his school at the WindEng competition at the University of Guelph in April. The ‘Whale Warriors’ placed 14th among the 40 teams with their design of a 6-blade turbine.

Kiefer Sutherland to turn self in for allegedly headbutting man

Kiefer Sutherland is turning himself in to prosecutors on Thursday to face a minor assault charge after he allegedly head-butted a fashion designer at 2 a.m. on Tuesday at a bar in the Mercer Hotel in SoHo.

When Sutherland shows up he will be issued a desk appearance ticket. That ticket allows the 24 actor to stay out of jail and travel freely.

It’s alleged that the incident happened when fashion designer Jack McCollough bumped into actress Brooke Shields and didn’t apologize. That reportedly angered Sutherland who then allegedly slammed his head into the man. According to a police report the designer had a small laceration and refused medical assistant after filing a complaint.

The Toronto Star reports:

A representative for McCollough denied that version of events to People. “Anyone who knows Jack McCollough knows that he would not hurt a fly,” the unnamed spokesperson told the magazine. “All we can say at this point is that he was the victim of a vicious, violent, unprovoked assault.”

It appears that the media is behind the actor’s surrender. When the media discovered that Sutherland was still in New York. His lawyer arranged the surrender to take place more quickly than a planned time a few weeks down the road.

There is no warrant for Sutherland’s arrest.

While New York isn’t looking to put Sutherland in jail there could be a problem in LA. The actor is still on probation for a DUI conviction.

The LA Times reports:

“Our office intends to contact the NYPD and New York prosecutors to review the incident and determine whether Mr. Sutherland violated probation,” L.A. City Attorney spokesman Frank Mateljan tells People.

Canadian Prime Minister Makes Surprise Afghanistan Trip

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has made a surprise trip to Kandahar Airfield on Thursday. While visiting the troops he warned that the increase of NATO troops in the area will lead to more violence.

This was Harper’s third visit to Kandahar.

The increase of 17,000 soldiers from the United States will allow Canada to be more effective Harper said while touring the military post.

CP 24 reports:

“The addition of American troops will allow us to do everything we’re doing now but on a much bigger scale and able to multi-task more effectively,” he said.

Harper used the time to emphasis the key development projects that are being undertaken by Canadian soldiers.

CBC reports:

Harper said that when the Canadian mission began in 2002, the Taliban had been running Afghanistan as though it were a medieval country.

“Those dark desperate days have ended. You have brought hope to those who have none,” Harper said at an appearance at Kandahar Airfield.

Harper visited the Dahla dam project that Canada has committed $50 million to help rebuilt along with the roads and waterways that are connected to it. The residents of the area rely on the dam for irrigation.

The Vancouver Sun reports:

Achievements “have not come without a cost,” Harper acknowledged in his address to soldiers. “Canada has paid dearly for this mission with our most precious asset, our brave sons and daughters . . . As prime minister, the phone calls that I make to the families of the fallen are the most difficult part of my job.”

Harper announced that Canada will also be sending $2 million in aid for UNICEF to use for education for the estimated 18,000 children in Kandahar.

Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk and Ron Hoffmann, Canada’s ambassador to Afghanistan joined Harper on Thursday.

“Canada was spread thin in the past,” Hoffmann told reporters as the prime minister handed out coffee to soldiers nearby.

“There has not been sufficient forces on the ground to do this job,” Natynczyk later added.

“We’ve been trying to do this job with about 40,000 troops. That is totally insufficient.”

Camp Quest Now In England, An Atheist Summer Camp

Every year parents send their children to camp. Many camps have a solid religious background. What about camps for non-religious families? Camp Quest was the first camp in the US for children of Atheists. The camp this year crosses the ocean to England.

The British version of the camp is founded by ex-University of York student Samantha Stein. Stein is modeling her program after Camp Quest which was started by Edwin and Helen Kagin in 1996. It now has five locations in the United States and one in Ontario, Canada.

The campers are required to sign a “Declaration of Religious Belief” when they attend the 5 day program.

Stein took the program to England after research showed her that there were no other camps geared to non-believers. This year’s session will be from July 27th until July 31st in Bath.

Campers are not required to be atheists but parents should be aware that the camp adopts a critical, scientific approach as opposed to a “faith-based” approach. The theme of this year’s camp is Evolution. During the mornings campers will explore many ideas including philosophy for Children, pseudoscience, astronomy, evolution, critical thinking, nature games and the famous Invisible Unicorns Challenge. Afternoons will be devoted to physical activities like archery, climbing and rafting.

The Yorker reports:

“We aren’t about converting children or trying to tell them what is right or wrong, rather we seek to promote critical thinking, philosophy and science in the context of those without religious belief. Our aim is educational – we are not an indoctrination scheme trying to push some ‘atheist agenda’ to abolish all religion.”

Stein added: “There are few social networks for the children of nonreligious parents, in the same way that children may make friends at church or Sunday school, and this is part of what that attempts to be: a way in which children can meet to discuss their ideas, have fun and know that they are not alone.”

The camp’s goal is to introduce children to “logical fallacies in a fun way”.

Stein graduated from York last year with a degree in Psychology, and is currently pursuing a masters in Religion in Contemporary Society at Kings College London.

The Ontario program was founded in 1992 in Guelph. This year’s session will take place in Waterloo July 19-25.

Toronto-Princess Margaret Hospital worker infected with swine flu

A health care worker at Princess Margaret Hospital has tested positive for swine flu in Toronto. The hospital employee is at home recovering from the virus.

Spokesperson, Gilliam Howard from Princess Margaret Hospital has said that the worker did not provide patient care. Colleagues who had direct contact with the employee are being evaluated and followed up with by the hospital.

The worker had no connect to Mexico.

Hospital employees are being advised not to come to work if they have symptoms of the virus. They are to report the symptoms to the occupational health clinic at the hospital.

The Toronto Star reports:

“Occupational health would then do a nasal swab on them,” Howard said.

“It’s taking about five days or more for the swabs to come back,” she said. “You cannot confirm this flu until you get a swab back.”

At this time the breakdown of swine flu in Canada is:

Ottawa, 1
Durham, 7
Halton, 2
Middlesex-London, 1
Oxford County, 1
Peel, 6
Simcoe, 2
Sudbury, 2
Toronto 12
Windsor-Essex, 5
York, 9
Unknown, 1

City News reports:

“It’s like the flu season,” Dr. David Williams, the province’s acting chief medical officer of health explained. “So wash your hands frequently and use alcohol rubs if you haven’t got a sink and water and soap. Clean common surfaces like doorknobs and counters and even things like TV monitor changers. Stay clear of people who are coughing or sneezing and cough or sneeze into the sleeve of your jacket or shirt. If you’re ill, stay at home and monitor the situation.”

Toronto Police Officer Charged With Drunk Driving

A Toronto Police officer has been charged with driving under the influence after getting into a collision yesterday. The officer was also accused of armed robbery almost a year ago.

The accident happened Tuesday on the Don Valley Parkway around 5 p.m. She was not on duty at the time of the accident.

When the police took the woman to the station for a breath test she scored over the legal limit.

Constable Tamara Rodin, 42, has served the Toronto Police Department for 21 years. She is now being held until her court appearance Thursday. She has been charged with with impaired driving, operating a vehicle with more than 80 milligrams of alcohol in her blood and failing to comply with bail conditions.

In December 2007 she was charged with robbery after a Pharmacy was reportedly robbed in Markham. Then, a woman walked into a drug store at 16th Avenue and Main Street telling the pharmacist she had a gun. The suspect demanded drugs which the pharmacist handed over before the woman fled the scene.

She was scheduled for trial on those charges in November.

Since her arrest in 2007 she has been placed on “light duties.”

M*A*S*H star David Ogden Stiers comes out of the closet

After years of being alone actor David Ogden Stiers is coming out. He was concerned for years that his career would dry up if he admitted that he was gay.

The blog Gossip Boy asked the actor if he was gay. Ogden Stiers proudly replied that he was.

The actor, most famous for his 1970’s role on as Major Charles Winchester on M*A*S*H, has been working steady as a voice actor for Disney. That was one area of concern for the actor as he kept his sexual orientation hidden.

Planet Out reports:

“…even though many have this idealistic belief that the entertainment industry and studios like Walt Disney are gay friendly—for the most part they are, but that doesn’t mean for them that business does not come first. It’s a matter of economics. Most of my more notable work in the last two decades has been as a voice actor. Certainly, I’ve done television appearances, be they recurring or guest roles, and numerous motion picture and documentary stints, but a lot of my income has been derived from voicing Disney and family programming. What the might allow in a more known actor, they prefer not having to deal with in minor players,” Stiers contended.

So why open the closet door now? The answer is simple Stiers would like to find someone to settle down with.

“I could claim noble reasons as coming out in order to move gay rights forward, but I must admit it is for far more selfish reasons. Now is the time I wish to find someone,” he said, “and I do not desire to force any potential partner to live a life of extreme discretion for me.”

Ontario Slated To Allow Vending Machines For Pharmacies

The health minister for Ontario, David Caplan will be introducing legislation next week for the use of special drug-dispensing machines to speed up the lines at pharmacies.

If the proposal goes through certain medications would be delivered to patients through a vending machine.

The machines have a video screen that allows patients to see and talk to a pharmacist from a remote location.

Patients will put their prescription slips into the machine, the machine will scan it and send the information to the pharmacist.

At that point the patient will pick up a phone and talk to the pharmacist. The pharmacist will make sure the prescription is safe and that it is appropriate. Once the pharmacist approves the transaction the pills will be dispensed from the machine.

Patients will then pay on site and only have to wait for five to 10 minutes while the machine fills their order.

Neala Barton, a spokesperson for David Caplan, told Digital Journal that the department is very confident that the new legislation will pass through Parliament.

“The machines are a really innovative way of increasing access for patients to be able to get their prescriptions in Ontario. It is also a way of introducing new technologies to the province and opening the doors for new businesses.”

The machines will have 320 of the most prescribed drugs stocked in them. There will be no narcotics stocked in the kiosks.

The dispensary is being market tested in Toronto and southwest Ontario. The machines were developed by PCA Services Inc. of Oakville, Ontario.

It is hoped that the machines will be widely available across Canada within the next year.

There are some concerns about the use of the machines. CBC reports:

“My main concern, because our mandate is really solely to protect the public, would be ensure all the safeguards and accountabilities are in place, and that we really are thoughtful about what we are doing to make sure that happens before anything goes to government in the form of regulations,” said Deanna Williams, registrar of the Ontario College of Pharmacists.

Many pharmacists are uncomfortable with losing face-to-face contact with patients.

“Someone could really come in stone drunk and alcohol coming off their breath and a pharmacist in a remote location would not catch that and would dispense the medicine anyways,” said Brendan Tannenbaum, a pharmacist in Toronto.

“So the number of medicines and which types of medicines hasn’t been determined, but I think there are some concerns.”

Sunnybrook Hospital was used as a trial run earlier this year. Dr. Sharon Domb, MD, CCFP was one of the doctors involved in the study. Dr. Domb talked to Digital Journal about the program about the positives that she saw during the trial run. Comparing the machine to an ATM in terms of technology Dr. Domb was very pleased with what the program offered her patients. While finding a pharmacy in Toronto open 24 hours may not be an issue for all in remoter areas it is. This is one area where the machines are very beneficial to patients.

“The machines are a great use of technology. It’s a way to get prescriptions quickly and easily. It is a local solution for time constraints and looking for a 24-hour pharmacy. While not everyone will go with the new technology it works well for those who will.”

Dr. Domb went to the factory where the machines are made prior to the trial run for a better understanding of the safe guards used with the devices. She stated because of all of the safeguards the machines are actually less likely to have medication mix-ups than the local drug store. Each box of pills is weighed, tagged and photographed before being placed in the machine. That information is compared again when a prescribe is tagged to be dispensed. If there are any issues the machine rejects the box and the medication is not delivered. The pharmacist that works with the machine also can reject a medication if there are any questions about dosage or health concerns.

“The machines are great for patients that have one or two medications to have filled. I wouldn’t use them if I had 10 different prescriptions to be filled but otherwise I think they are much faster and easier for patients.”

The machines will leave more time for pharmacists to do what they are best at, working one on one with patients. Pharmacists can take the time to answer questions and explain to patients what the medications that they are using do and what to be aware of.

The machines could change the way Canadians approach their local drug stores, understanding the need for the expert advice behind the counter and still be able to get their medicines quickly.

Dennis Darby, CEO, of the Ontario Pharmacist Association told Digital Journal that pharmacists support the new technology but do have some concerns that patients will rely on the kiosks instead of developing a relationship with their local pharmacist. That relationship is vital for the overall health of the patient.

If the legislation passes Mr. Darby says the College of Pharmacy will be in charge of the regulations for the program.

Mr. Darby noted that Ontario has over 3,000 drug stores. The more rural areas have a greater need for this type of service and that it “is better than nothing at all.”

The machines won’t be able to do many of the services that the pharmacist does, such as liquid medications and splitting pills, which is often needed for elderly patients.

Mr. Darby is very encouraged though with the government’s actions for health care. He believes when electronic health records are in place they will further enhance both this program and the pharmacy business in general.

Abdul to Perform on Wednesday Night Idol Stage

Paula Abdul is set to sing tonight on American Idol. The live performance will be a song from her first single “I’m Just Here for the Music,” from her latest album.

Abdul confirmed she is performing on Idol while on Ryan Seacrest’s radio show Tuesday morning. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to be on the Idol stage, but was given a last-minute offer by the show’s producers. She has known since Saturday night and rehearsed on Sunday. She also told Seacrest she has yet to sign a contract for next season’s Idol.

Reality TV World reports:

“I haven’t [performed before but] I was invited by the producers and I wasn’t sure if I was going to do it because [time is of] the essence and I literally put everything together on Saturday, rehearsed Sunday and [some] press came in to see it at rehearsal yesterday and it was really good. I know you are a perfectionist [so] you’ll be there after the show tonight working all night just to make sure everything is exactly right,” Seacrest told Abdul.

“No Doubt” and “Daughtry” will also be performing on tonight’s show.

Abdul is also finally coming clean about her 12-year battle with painkiller addiction. She claims she never filmed while under the influence, nor did she use illegal medicine.

Abdul’s body has been put through the grinder after years of cheer leading, dancing injuries, a 1992 car crash and a 1993 plane crash. She required 15 spinal surgeries following the plane accident.

Abdul suffers from reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome. She was diagnosed in 2005 for the condition that has left her in constant pain, chattering teeth and shingles-like lesions.

Since last Thanksgiving, Abdul says she has been off medication.

She is now working to relaunch her singing career.

CDC media briefing: Expect more deaths

On Tuesday’s media update from the CDC, Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of HHS and Richard Besser, M.D., Acting Director, CDC took questions from reporters concerning the latest findings by the CDC on swine flu.

Kathleen Sebelius the new Secretary of Health and Human Services toured the CDC labs in Atlanta today.

“It was with great delight for my first time out of Washington, D.C. trip to be to the CDC. Not only observing what the scientists are doing regarding the swine flu but with the day in, day out operations that the CDC is giving the American public.”

At this time there are 44 states with confirmed swine flu cases. Sebelius said that there are likely to be more deaths. She noted that the virus is not as severe as it was once thought to be and that President Obama wanted science to be the guide in this case and that science will continue to be the guide as to how the United States prepares for more cases of the swine flu.

As for school closings new guidance has been introduced. Closings are not being recommended unless a school has so many cases it can not function properly. The new guidance is for children who are ill to remain at home for seven days following the first symptoms. If your child is ill this does not mean to send them to the mall instead of school but to keep them at home to help slow the spread of disease.

As for the severity of the disease it is unlikely to know what to expect until this flu during the normal season.

Sebelius wanted to clarify that at this time there is not a vaccine available. It is hoped that it will be ready for production in the fall. At this stage the vaccine process is in the testing phase. Right now there is an accelerated production of seasonal flu vaccines ongoing. If the need arises then at that point the production of the vaccine, that should be ready will be started.

“Our goal is to move forward. There is not a vaccine, research is underway. Science is leading this process right now.”Around 25 per cent of the Tamiflu stockpile has been sent to the state level. The government is expecting it to be used as many more cases are now coming forward.

Questions as to why the government has been slow in getting people into the key positions for this outbreak were asked. The question has to do with the Senate confirmation process. There are 20 of these key positions that require a confirmation by the Senate in order to be filled.

“There are very dynamic discussions going on with world health groups, WHO, Homeland Security, the CDC and other organizations everyday. These talks are taking place as to what the right protocol, the use of Tamiflu, staging and preparing should be. We want to be sure that everyone is on the same page.”

China has quarantined people and that was brought up. The answer given was that it may gain countries not yet hit a few more weeks of preparation time. Those countries need the extra time to be prepared.

Sebelius had to leave the conference call early to return to Washington.

Dr. Richard Besser told reporters that there are now 1105 confirmed or probable cases of swine flu in the United States. Over 740 of those are at the probable stage. The median age of infection is 15 years old with the age range at 3 months to 81 years-old. Sixty-two per cent of United States cases are in those under the age of 18. There are 35 cases of severe disease requiring hospitalization.There is evidence that the cases in Mexico City are leveling off. More cases of mild flu are being now reported in Mexico. There is now a lab in Mexico so that testing can go more quickly. While cases are leveling off in Mexico City other areas in Mexico are starting to see new cases. As for more mild cases starting to emerge it is not that mild cases were not always the larger amount of cases but looking at those who were seriously ill was the first priority.

That is not the case in the United States and it is expected that there will be more hospitalizations. It now appears that the swine flu is on the same page as the regular seasonal flu.

“This is not to downplay the severity of the disease. There is no question that seasonal flu is a major burden on a person’s health each year.”

At this point the CDC has recommended that schools not be closed. This is due to further understanding of the disease and weighing benefits on each side of the issue. It is known now that once the virus is in the schools it is also already in the community. Because of this it is even more important for those who are ill not to go to either work or school for seven days from onset to help slow the spread of disease.

When the CDC weighed the benefits using the current guidance it was decided that missing school was more detrimental than closing the schools. These decisions go to the highest level of government.

“It is impossible for us to know how many actual cases that there are in the United States. At this time we are more concerned about the curves than the actual numbers.”

Questions are still being asked why the majority of the cases have occurred in young adults. Some possible reasons are that the cases are a result of Spring Break, younger adults have a lack of protective factors and that the elderly may be protected because of previous exposure to seasonal flu.

While tracking the virus via web site hits has been useful in the past at this time it is not because of the sheer increase of hits to sites like the CDC. The CDC is registering 8 million hits a day.

What can the general public do to protect themselves from swine flu?

“We want to channel people into action. Just as families need to have disaster kits ready during hurricane season this is the time for families to make a flu plan so that they know what to do if the virus hits.

Hand washing is the number one way at this time to slow the spread of disease. Covering coughs is number two. Staying home when you are ill is the third most important key to helping slow the spread of the virus.”

School Wins-California Supreme Court Sexual Discrimination Case

The California Supreme Court ruled in favor of a school that expelled two students because they were having a lesbian relationship.

The state’s highest court ruled in favor of California Lutheran High School’s right to expel the young teenagers. The school according to the court was within their right to exclude students based on their sexual orientation because it is a private, religious organization.

The private school is a Christian institution that teaches its students the ‘unchanging will of God.’

The girls had sued the Riverside County school in 2005 using the state’s anti-discrimination law.

The Court’s ruling could open the doors for private schools to discriminate against students on any basis including sex and religion.

This goes against the California Safe School Coalition for public schools which states California Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act of 2000 prohibits discrimination and harassment on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in California public schools.

Had the school been considered a business opened to the public their expelling students based on sexual orientation would be considered discrimination. That was the angle that the lawyers for the two female students suing the school went for.

In January the California’s 4th District Court of Appeal ruled that the school was not a business.

Both girls are now attending college.

Study: Canada’s Latest Bunch of MPs Have Less Education

Who says the common man can’t rule the land? In Canada the latest MP’s are less educated, less experienced and more non-ethnic their counterpoints in the United States. A study says they are also more likely to have business in their background.

The Public Policy Forum report says that the last election brought in a batch of MPs that have less than five years total experience in politics. Only three per cent of MPs have more than 15 years of experience and almost all of those are Liberals.

One small change that the last election changed was ethnic diversity or lack there of.

Education wise about two-thirds of MPs do have a university degree. In the United States 93 per cent of representatives have at least one degree.

Being elected in Canada doesn’t require as much money which may pinpoint why Canada’s MPs may have more middle class representatives than in the United States. It costs about $62,000 to run a campaign in Canada for MP. Most House seat campaigns in the United States fall just short of $800,000.

While fresh ‘blood’ in Parliament keeps the system fresh some critics wonder if it’s for the best.

The Canadian Press reports:

“We have very few career politicians currently in our Parliament and most of our MPs are new in terms of their experience. They’re still learning the ropes. And that might in part explain the partisanship and rancour that we see in the House of Commons today.”

David Mitchell, president of the Public Policy Forum cites “an unprecedented level of partisan acrimony and a high degree of distrust between elected representatives and the federal public service.”

“With 75 per cent of our politicians knowing only these dynamics of minority Parliament, has our political culture been altered? Is this a positive development?

“I think some important questions are raised.”

Doctor of Political Science Stephen Purdy talked to Digital Journal on the telephone about his thoughts of the findings. In his opinion “real life experience in the community service sector is the most important element when it comes to becoming an MP, regardless of education background. While education can be important element in the politics of it all the point of an MP is to be a true representative of their riding and for those in office to know what the people at home need and want. They need to be able to work for the people. Law and business degrees can be important but just as important is knowing the inner workings of their communities.”

Dr. Purdy also said that there are similarities between the United States House and the Parliament of Canada as they are both democracy in action.

The lack of experience that may be facing today’s Parliament isn’t as much a concern for Dr. Purdy as if the MPs don’t stick around long enough to bring about changes that are needed.

“In the best of both worlds there would be those who have the education and those who have the real life work experience within communities forming the government.”

Getting Ready For Toronto’s Pride Week

Every year Toronto hosts Pride Week during June. This year will be bigger than ever with an additional $300,000 from the Government of Ontario to help with the planning. The event this year will be held June 19-28.

Pride Toronto says that the yearly event supports 650 jobs, brings in $18 million in government tax revenue and has a positive $100 million in direct economic impact.

The full-time staff starts planning the next year’s week the minute the non-stop action ends each June. Since the small planned picnic 30 years ago Pride Week has grown by leaps and bounds says Grant Ramsay, media contact for Pride Toronto. The event is now international with people flowing into Toronto from all over the world.

“The work with all of the communities, not just the queer community is one of the most positive changes with Pride Week. We now can offer tourist packages that help the tourism in Toronto which is new. Also working with the government is a very positive change. Government officials are now a part of the week which in the past didn’t happen. That is very positive,” Ramsay told Digital Journal.

This year’s International Grand Marshal will be 33-years-old and transgender, Victor Mukasa. Mukasa is from Africa and has played an important role in the African Trans movement At a LGBTI event in 2007 in Nairobi he initiated the Nairobi Trans Declaration 2007. In 2008 he conducted the first Trans strategic workshop in Cape Town, South Africa, which brought together trans activists from Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa.

Mukasa took the Ugandan Government to court in 2006 after his home was raided, documents relating to his human rights work in Uganda were confiscated and his Kenyan friend was arrested. The case was ruled in his and his friend’s favor last December.

“Pride Toronto has become a huge, diverse and multicultural event with great entertainment that draws people from far and wide,” said Tracey Sandilands, Executive Director Pride Toronto. “With over 50% of Torontonians not born in Canada and over 100 languages spoken, Pride Toronto looks forward to continuing it’s growth and outreach into these communities.”

Pride Week is for everyone, families included. There are special areas set up just for children. Mr. Ramsay said that it is absolutely a family event. There is something for every age group.

I, myself have taken my youngest son to the event and can attest that he enjoyed the children’s area in past years. There were craft activities and just plan fun.Some of the special features of this year’s Pride Week include Deborah Cox, Divine Brown, The Cliks, and a live in concert of 80s icons ABC, Wang Chung, Heaven 17 and Cutting Crew performing on Sunday June 28.There have been nine video artists commissioned to produce video for this year’s theme “Can’t Stop. Won’t Stop.”

Grant Ramsay of Pride Toronto told Digital Journal that the theme each year comes from the community. There is a call for the community to come up with a theme. The suggestions are then taken to a community meeting and voted on.Pride Toronto is the not-for-profit organization that hosts Pride Week. The purpose of Pride Week is to to celebrate the history, courage, diversity and future of Toronto’s LGBTTIQQ2S communities (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer, Questioning, Two-Spirited).

American Idol David Cook’s Brother Loses Battle With Brain Cancer

American Idol season seven winner David Cook’s brother Adam passed away after a long battle with brain cancer on Sunday morning in Terre Haute, Indiana.

David Cook was in Washington D.C. at the 12th annual Race For Hope when his brother died at a hospice in Terre Haute. His family had told the singer that it was important to honor the commitment for the charity. David Cook’s team raided more than $97,000 for the charity in today’s walk.

Entertainment Weekly reports:

“Like everybody here, I’m affected by this disease. I actually lost my brother yesterday to a brain tumor,” Cook said, as you can hear members of the crowd gasping. “I couldn’t imagine… I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else right now.” David was serving as grand marshal of the event and ran the 3.1 miles in 28 minutes. “I lost one today,” Cook added. “But I’ve gained 9,000 and I will be here every year that they will have me.”

Adam, 36, had been battling cancer for 11 years.

Radar Online reports:

“Adam passed away peacefully. He was surrounded by his family, including his wife Kendra, his children, his father and his step-mom, among others.”

“The family thought that Adam would go much sooner than this, actually,” said the Cook family friend.

“That’s why David left his tour a few weeks back so that he could be with Adam. They said their goodbyes then.”

During last season’s American Idol the residents of Terre Haute raised $45,000 so that Adam who watch his brother perform on stage in Hollywood.

David Hasselhoff Rushed To Hospital

Actor David Hasselhoff was rushed to Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai Medical center Saturday after being found unconscious by his 16-year-old daughter.

Hayley Hasselhoff called her mother Pamela Bach. Bach rushed her former husband to the hospital in time to save his life from another round of alcohol poisoning, Radar Online reports.

According to the site Hasselhoff’s blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was .39. Drunk driving in California starts when the BAC is .08.

Rador Online reports:

A source (ABS-1) said a frightened Hayley kept “slapping her dad’s face” to keep him alive. “He was barely breathing when they got him at the hospital.

“He’s recovering. Pam was his bedside till 4a.m. this morning. This is about the 7th time he’s been taken to a hospital over the last few years with alcohol poisoning. How many visits will it take before he dies?”

The site says that a source has stated that Hasselhoff has been hospitalized at least 10 times in the past. Most of these incidents have gone unreported.

The World’s Changing Into A Twitter Globe

Do you know who and Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone and Evan Williams are? In the future school children may know them as well as they do Samuel Morse, Alexander Graham Bell, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs . They invented Twitter.

The trio formed the program that has turned masses into 140 character world chatters. Instant messages and social networking has been combined in a new arena allowing for people to communicate quickly at every level.

The media global world is able to know what is the hot minute to minute trends and issues in seconds. People are able to get their causes out throughout the global with a few quick strokes on the keyboard.

If you’re not sure that Twitter is really the wave of the future check out the major media news peddlers. Digital Journal, CNN, BBC, CBC and the like are all twittering. WHO and the CDC use twitter to inform the public about swine flu.

Twitter is also a marketer’s dream. Geelong Advertiser reports:

“It’s also much more immediate because you don’t have to send out a survey. The tools are really good for being able to listen hard and specifically, so in that sense it’s not a survey tool,” explains futurist Mark Pesce.

“This technology is easy to learn. It’s basically going to a website and typing in your business name, or your product name, into the search box and that’s it and you leave it there and you check it every once in a while.”

As Ashton Kutcher puts it:

I believe that Twitter is a stage for humanity and connection, not the triumph of technology. Right now the word revolution is spelled with 140 characters.

Raccoon Ringworm Hits Two In New York

A rare disease transmitted by raccoons has left an infant with brain damage and a teen blind in one eye in New York. The city is on the alert for Raccoon Ringworm, a very rare disease that can affect humans who come in contact with raccoon feces.

The disease can cause permanent nerve damage and in the most serious cases death.

The New York Daily News reports:

Parents should closely supervise small children in areas where raccoons live to prevent possible ingestion of raccoon feces,” said Sally Slavinski, of a Health Department unit that deals with diseases that can be transmitted between animals and humans.

The infant that was infected last October. It is believed that he got the disease in upstate New York. He has been in hospital since that time. His symptoms started with seizures and spinal problems which caused brain damage.

The Brooklyn teen lost sight in his right eye this January.

There have been fewer than 30 cases of Raccoon Ringworm reported nationwide. Once a person is infected it takes two to four weeks for the symptoms to appear. Symptoms include nausea, loss of coordination and muscle control, and blindness, to develop. The disease is prone to children and especially developmentally disabled children.

Nickelback’s Kroeger Sued Over Alleged Fight

Chad Kroeger of Nickleback is being sued over an alleged fight outside a nightclub in Vancouver. The alleged fight took place two years ago.

Noah Christian Morse has filed the lawsuit in British Columbia Supreme Court. He claims that he suffered a concussion. scars and headaches after allegedly being punched in the face by Kroeger.

The police investigated the incident but Kroeger, whose real name is Chad Turton, was not charged. It is unlikely that he will ever be charged.

Nickelback is based out of Vancouver.

Reactions To Egyptian Pig Cull

The decision by the Egyptian government to cull the nation’s pig population has brought out the critics. The government ordered the slaughter of the pigs on Wednesday saying that it would stop panic about the swine flu in the largely Muslim country.

The United Nations has repeatedly told the world’s population eating properly prepared pork is not a way of getting the swine flu.

Joseph Domenech, the chief veterinary officer for the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation has called the cull “a real mistake.”

The Egyptian government is now saying that the swine cull was not because of the swine flu.

Medical News Today reports:

“The authorities took advantage of the situation to resolve the question of disorderly pig rearing in Egypt,” health ministry spokesman Abdelrahman Shahine told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The World Health Organization’s move to put the pandemic alert to phase 5 confirms that the situation is not a pig problem but a human problem, he added. The government is calling the decision a “general health measure” rather than a measure to fight swine flu.

Most of Egypt’s swine population has been raised by Christian farmers who are saying that the government pledges of compensation of $105 per animal were inadequate. Ten per cent of Egyptians are Coptic Christians. The majority of those live in Cairo slums where their pigs feed on garbage. The majority of Egyptians are Muslims who do not eat pork for religious reasons.

Medical News Today reports:

Saber Abdel Aziz Galal told AFP that the government wants to restructure pig farming so that it takes place on “good farms, not on rubbish”. At the moment the pigs live with “dogs, cats, rats, poultry and humans, all in the same area with rubbish,” he said, explaining that the government wants to build new farms in special areas, like they have in Europe.

“Within two years the pigs will return, but we need first to build new farms,” he said.

The government is attempting to speed up the culling process by importing three machines to accelerate the slaughters Almasry Alyoum daily said on Sunday.

Xinhua reports:

“We will import three new slaughtering machines to increase the capacity to 3,000 pigs a day,” said Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation Amin Abbaza in a statement.

The actual culling started on Saturday. The country plans to have slaughtered all the swine within six months. Egypt is facing a large problem on what to do with the culled meat. There are not enough factories to contain the pork.

Al Jazeera reports:

“Our pigs are healthy. They are our capital and they have no diseases,” Adel Ishak, a rubbish collector from Manshiet Nasser, northeast of Cairo, told the AFP news agency.

“How will they replace the capital if these pigs are killed?”

Police are guarding areas that have large pig farms to stop farmers from smuggling their pigs out.

On Sunday pig farmers and police clashed in Manshiyet Nasser, a shanty district east of Cairo, because of the pig cull.

Philstar.com reports:

“About 5,000 pig farmers clashed with the police forces in Manshiyet Nasser shantytown on Sunday as the government wants to cull all the pigs in Egypt,” Atta, a pig rearer on the scene, said.

“There are about 30 police cars, and about 1,000 policemen who started to fire tear gas towards us,” Samir Kamel, another pig rearer on the scene said.

“The still going-on clashes came because the government refused to compensate the rearers,” Samir added.

“About 12 protests got minor injuries,” he added.

Arctic Nuclear Plants Being Planned By Russia

Russia has started work on the world’s first floating nuclear power station. The Arctic station is ongoing despite warning that it is possible to become a disaster in the making.

The Lomonosove is the first of seven plants that Moscow believes will bring energy resources to the most remote Russian regions. The £100 million vessel will be running within three years and house two 35-megawatt reactors that could be capable of supplying a city of 200,000 people.

The four planned stations will be worth $850 million when they are fully operational within the next five years.

The plan is to station the floating plants in Yakutia.

Rosatom, the state owned nuclear corporation, has already signed an agreement to have the four floating nuclear power stations built along its coastal areas on the Arctic Ocean.

When the four plants begin operation between 2012 and 2015 they will employ at least 470 people per plant.
The stations would provide power to Gazprom, the oil firm which is also Russia’s biggest company. According to the Guardian the floating plants would be able to store their own waste and fuel needing servicing only once in every 12 to 14 years.

A prototype is being built at the SevMash shipyard in Severodvinsk. It should be compled in 2010.

Mosnews.com reports:

“This project will allow us to cut down on fuel import costs and to increase the quality and reliability of electricity production, thereby meeting the demands of Yakutia’s growing industries,” a spokesman for the Yakutia Republic’s administration said.

Environmental groups and nuclear experts are warning that the floating plants are more vulnerable to accidents and terrorism than plants that are on solid ground. The experts have also pointed out nuclear accidents that have happened within Russia, the most notable Chernobyl.

Times Online reports:

“There is so little infrastructure in these remote areas that it will be very difficult to control the plants if something goes wrong. It will also be difficult to maintain a full cohort of engineers,” Nils Boehmer, an expert on Russia’s nuclear industry at Bellona, a Norwegian environmental group, told The Times.

“There will be a risk of hijack and terrorist attack because it is much harder to secure floating facilities. The security services in Russia have done exercises on nuclear-powered ice-breakers and found that it is very easy to take control of them.”

Another concern is the history of the Russian navy. In 2000 the Kursk nuclear submarine sank in the Barents Sea after a torpedo exploded on board. The crew of 18 were lost in the accident.

The former head of the Russian nuclear inspectorate, Vladimir Kuznetsov co-authored a report on floating nuclear plants that concluded that the vessels were “inherently unsafe”.

Times Online quotes Kutnetsov:

“There is a clear danger of nuclear proliferation if these plants are sold to other countries. There is also a very high risk of terrorist attack,” he said.

In the past five years Russia, Norway, Denmark, Canada and the United States have all claimed large areas of the Arctic.

The Guardian reports:

According to a new report by the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum, Russia is considering other nuclear plants for power-hungry settlements. “The locations that have been discussed include 33 towns in the Russian far north and far east. Such plants could be also used to supply energy for oil and gas extraction,” says the report by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme.

Kidnappers Torture Toronto Man For Five Hours

A Toronto man was tortured for five hours after talking to the police. Two of the man’s former associates beat and burnt the man for telling the police that the three had been involved in a robbery three years ago.

The man was kidnapped on Friday evening and taken to an apartment at Queen St. E. and Greenwood Avenue. For five hours the pair beat the 21-year-old man. At one point they almost cut off two of his toes.

After five hours the pair took the man in another cab to Dundas St. E and Coxwell Avenue to get drugs. When the kidnappers left the cab the man ran for his life.

The man went to the hospital and was treated.

Police are now seeking the kidnappers that are both considered to be dangerous. The men are Anheim (African) Bol, described as a 19-year-old man, black, 6-foot-6, 181 pounds with a thin build, and Luis (Sluggs) Sampedro, also 19, described as 5-foot-7, dark-skinned, 149 pounds with a medium build.

If you have any information on the pair please call Toronto police at 416-808-5504.

New Ontario Impaired-Driving Law Nabs First Offender

It only took police one day to start using the new drunk driving laws in Ontario. The first man nabbed was in South Simcoe.

An Innisfil man has had his driving licence suspended under the tougher anti-impair driving laws put in place May 1.

The man had failed to stop for a red light when the police pulled him over. When tested at the scene he blew a warn level into the test machine for blood alcohol concentration.

The man lost his licence for three days and his vehicle was impounded. Not only will it cost him to get his car out of the impound but an extra $150 to get his plastic licence back

Google Goes To the Goats

Google is using an old fashion means to combat forest fires around its campus. They have ‘hired’ 200 goats to munch the grass and create buffer zones that firefighters advise dwellers in wildfire zones.

The company also hired a special shepherd named Jen, a border collie, to keep the troops in line. Not only are the goats working for less than most labourers they provide a constant source of free fertilizer.

Google reports:

“We have some fields that we need to mow occasionally to clear weeds and brush to reduce fire hazard,” Google director of real estate and workplace services Dan Hoffman wrote in a posting on the company’s official blog.

“Instead of using noisy mowers that run on gasoline and pollute the air, we’ve rented some goats … to do the job for us (we’re not “kidding”).”

Of course the goats are not free. It actually costs about the same as traditional mowing would but without the use of gas powered mowers that cause a little more pollution.

The goats are not being used in areas where they could wander into a board meeting demanding more money, instead their are employed for peripheral fields.

CNET reports:

“A herder brings about 200 goats and they spend roughly a week with us at Google, eating the grass and fertilizing at the same time,” a post on the official Google blog read. “The goats are herded with the help of Jen, a border collie. It costs us about the same as mowing, and goats are a lot cuter to watch than lawn mowers.”

Singer Being Tested For Swine Flu

N-Dubz singer Tulisa Contostavlos is being tested for swine flu after getting sick on a flight to Greece says her manager.

The 20-year-old was on a flight to Athens for a quick vacation after finishing up a 23-date tour in the UK.

On the flight she needed medical attention after fainting. A doctor said she had all the symptoms of swine flu. She is undergoing tests while isolated in hospital.

The Sun reports:

“Tulisa is very poorly indeed. She has gone from a huge high of chart success and the tour to panicking about her health.

“Tulisa’s family have been forced to wear masks and have only been allowed minimal contact. It is a terrifying time.”

The band’s spokesman said: “We are hopeful Tulisa will be given the all-clear and will be well enough to leave hospital in the next couple of days.”

BBC reports that the band’s manager Jonathon Shalit says there that he has no idea how she got ill but “the nature of being a singer is that you meet and shake hands with a huge amount of people”.

The band is due to perform next weekend at Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Swindon.

Google Earth In Hot Water With Japan’s Burakumin

Old maps showing where lower-caste communities in Japan were has put Google Earth in hot water with Japan. The maps had previously been on the Internet so Google Earth wasn’t expecting any flack for posting the old maps.

Now the company is having to deal with inquiries from the Justice Ministry and angry accusations of prejudice.

the maps were from a time when shoguns ruled and the caste system was a way of life. The lowest of the low were the “burakumin,” although they were ethnically like everyone else their jobs dealt with death. They lived in isolation for working with leather, butchering animals and digging graves. They were legally liberated in 1871 with the abolition of the feudal caste system;

While the caste system has been gone for a long time there are still 3 million descendants of burakumin. They face prejudice to this day because of where they live or where their ancestors lived. Employers routinely screen to check for buraku ancestry through Japan’s elaborate family records.

Boston.com reports:

“If we suspect that an applicant is a burakumin, we always do a background check to find out,” she said. She agreed to discuss the practice only on condition that neither she nor her company be identified.

Because of the stigma the maps could lower property values in neighbourhoods linked to the lower-caste system.

“If there is an incident because of these maps, and Google is just going to say ‘it’s not our fault’ or ‘it’s down to the user,’ then we have no choice but to conclude that Google’s system itself is a form of prejudice,” said Toru Matsuoka, a member of Japan’s upper house of parliament.

While printing maps in Japan is legal publishers and museums are careful not to anger the highly organized burakumin leadership. Public showings that pinpoint the areas almost always have a historical explanation. Google Earth failed to do this one step.

Drunk cowboy cited while out for a ‘joyride’

Drunk driving is never pretty but what about drunk riding?
A drunk cowboy out for a “joyride” has been cited with riding his horse while under the influence in a Denver suburb.

The man wearing a cowboy hat was charged with riding an animal under the influence. The ticket will cost the man $25.

The police had to do some fast thinking on the spot when they cited Brian Drone for riding his horse Cricket. They had been called to the scene after receiving calls that a man on a horse was too drunk to stay on his saddle. Towing a horse isn’t something that crops up everyday for Sgt. Jeff Monzingo. It was the first time in his 15-year career that he’s had to figure out how to get a horse home.

In the end a stable owner offered a ride for both Drone and Cricket.

Study Suggests Lithium Added To Water Supply Will Lower Suicide

A Japanese study suggests that putting the drug lithium into water supplies could reduce suicide. The researchers have called on other countries to study the effects.

The study looked at the lithium levels in drinking water in Oita. The city have a population of more than one million people. In areas where the lithium was highest there was a positive marked difference in suicide deaths. High doses of lithium is used in the treatment of mood disorders.

The team of researchers from universities in Oita and Hiroshima found that even low levels of water with lithium had lower rates of suicide.

Researchers believe that the lower rates may have a cumulative protective effect on the brain after drinking the water for years.

There have been past research on the same subject in the 1980’s. Those results showed the same lower levels of suicide.

Researchers in Japan have asked other countries to research the issue. They have stopped short of suggesting that lithium be added to drinking water elsewhere.

BBC quotes Professor Allan Young of Vancouver’s Institute for Mental Health:

“Large-scale trials involving the addition of lithium to drinking water supplies may then be feasible, although this would undoubtedly be subject to considerable debate. Following up on these findings will not be straightforward or inexpensive, but the eventual benefits for community mental health may be considerable.”

Sophie Corlett, external relations director at mental health charity Mind, agrees that the study deserves more investigation but cautions that adding even trace amounts of the drug needs to be researched throughly because of side effects.

First American Swine Flu Death Grandson Of Mexican Media Baron

The baby in Texas who died from the swine flu was the grandson of media baron Mario Vazquez Ráña, 76. The toddler came from one of Mexico’s most influential families.

The toddler became ill while with his mother vacationing in Brownsville. He was not an illegal immigrant as has been reported in the press. After the child became ill he was taken to Texas Children’s Hospital.

Miguel Tejada Vazquez and his mother were in Brownsville for much of April. The family visited Houston’s Galleria Mall on April 5.

Miguel’s family is very well connected in Mexico. His grandfather not only owns 41 newspapers but has been involved with the Olympics organizations since the mid-1970s.

His great-uncle Olegario controls one of the largerst private Mexican health providers, the Angeles Hospital chain, a newspaper and Mexico’s Camino Real hotels.

Miguel is survived by his parents Miriam Vazquez and architect Jose Manuel Tejeda and five siblings.

Sick Kids Hospital researchers turning stem cells green

Turning stem cells green is helping researchers be able to identify human stem cells. Scientists recently have been able to turn skin cells into stem cells but these stem cells are not easy to see.

A research team at The Hospital for Sick Kids is helping other researchers be able to pinpoint skin turn stem cells by making them fluorescent green. The findings are in the advance online edition of Nature Methods.

Sick Kids reports:

“This new technique is simple and reliable and allows us to isolate the best stem cells quickly,” says Dr. James Ellis, principal investigator of the study, SickKids Senior Scientist and Associate Professor of Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto. “This has exciting implications for studying disease and for future cell therapies.”

The new stem cells are being used to form a study on Rett syndrome, a form of autism.

The recent discovery that human skin cells can be reprogrammed into becoming stem cells can take up to four weeks to grow. By using the Green Fluorescent Protein the cluster of cells are easy to find.

Not only does the green protein help scientists find the cells but when the samples are inserted at the same time with a drug-resistance gene only the strongest and best stem cells survive.

[quote"We designed the green gene to be off in skin cells, but to turn on when they are reprogrammed to become stem cells," says Dr. Akitsu Hotta, lead author of the study and a post-doctoral Fellow from Japan (funded by SickKids Restracomp Award). "We can then pick the best stem cell colonies that glow green under the microscope and expand them to study human disease."

Rett syndrone is caused by a mutation in the MECP2 gene and affects nerve cell maturation in the brain. The ailment only targets girls. Researchers are using nerve cells from the patient stem cells. The hope is that one day the research being done now will enable a drug to be made that can correct the defects.

“We noticed that tumours did not form if we transferred pure populations of mature cells into mice, but if green stem cells were also present, tumours were quickly established,” says Ellis, Co-Director of The Ontario Human iPS Cell Facility located at SickKids, where researchers have used this new technique to isolate iPS cells from 10 patients with diseases such as cystic fibrosis. “The green gene effectively signals the presence of tumour-forming stem cells, and these could be removed before transplantation is performed.”

Future use of the green gene will also come with the suicide gene enabling the strongest cells to survive.

The research was supported by Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Stem Cell Network, SickKids Foundation and the International Rett Syndrome Foundation and SickKids Restracomp Award.

Shaw Communications Picks Up 3 Canwest Stations For A Dollar Each

Talk about a good deal, Shaw Communications bought three television stations from CTV for a dollar each in April 2009. The move is not favored by all.

The deal added two A Channel stations, in Wingham and Windsor, Ont., and a privately owned CBC affiliate, CKX in Brandon, Man. to Shaw’s roster.

That news isn’t setting well with some.

Canadian Press reports that Duncan Stewart, director of research and analysis at DSam Consulting in Toronto is one such critic.

“I don’t believe the primary motivation … is that (chief executive Jim Shaw) really wants to run these three TV stations,” Stewart said

“I think he is doing this to embarrass the broadcasters, weaken their argument and put pressure on the CRTC and politicians.”

The move for Shaw to take on the three struggling stations is a bold one and politically based. The CRTC is caught in the middle of the big networks and the cable companies.

Ivan Fecan, president of CTVglobal wants the government to get back to regulating cable rates. The dispute between the CRTC and CTV got heated when Fecan said that it was willing to sell its three struggling stations for a buck each.

Shaw Communications fired back at Fecan with a full-page advertisement in the Globe and Mail taking CTV up on the $1 offer.

Canadian Press reports:

“We believe television has a bright future,” said Canada’s second-largest cable TV operator, which spun off its former radio and TV assets into a separate company, Corus Entertainment, (TSX:CJR.B) several years ago.

“These broadcasters are threatening to cut local newscasts, cut jobs and close television stations,” Shaw wrote in the letter.

“They are holding you hostage demanding a tax on subscribers as a ransom.”

CTV also ran a half-page ad thanking Shaw for making purchases.

The papers aren’t signed on the deal yet says Canwest spokesman John Douglas.

‘We have not heard from them,” said Canwest spokesman John Douglas.

‘It’s interesting that we’ve had a public process to sell our stations – Shaw expressed no interest. But if now they’re prepared to do that, we look forward to receiving an offer from them.”

Shaw couldn’t be reached after the deal was done according to the Globe and Mail. He’s said to have offered to buy up any other stations at the same price that Canwest needs to unload.

“Good for them,” Mr. Fecan said of Shaw. “I’m sure they will live up to the existing conditions of licence placed on these stations, which is wonderful news for the employees and for the people of Windsor, Wingham and Brandon,” Mr. Fecan said.

Station manager Don Mumford from Windsor was caught by surprise with the deal according to 2Canada.

“I’ve seen the various reports in the media as well. I’ve had some conversations with CTV, and — at this point in time — we’re just trying to confirm the seriousness of Shaw’s offer,” Mumford said. “I’m not quite sure where the report from Shaw originated.”

“I’m really not going to be saying anything. I know nothing on this,” he said. “This is beyond my scope, at this point.”

Shaw Communications is based out of Calgary. The company provides transmission of more than 200 television channels.

This month Shaw Communications posted $128 million in profit on continuing operations, including internet provider and digital phone services.

Drug Charges Dropped For Singer Steven Page

Former Barenaked Ladies singer Steven Page’s drug charges have been dismissed. The news was a welcome relief for the Canadian artist. Last year Page, Christine Benedicto and Stephanie Ford were charged with drug possession in New York.

The police had allegedly found cocaine in a Fayetteville, New York apartment that the the two women lived at.

The judge residing over the case made some provisions in order for the charges to be dropped, the trio could not be arrested again, received therapy, and passed drug screening in the ensuing six months.

Page met all of the conditions laid out according to Mark Mahoney, Page’s Buffalo-based lawyer. The women’s charges have also been dropped.

CBC quotes Page:

“The respect and responsibility I have earned over the course of my life and my career thus far are important to me and I am moving forward from this with gratitude and with hope,” Page said in October.

“I also apologize to all of those I have hurt or embarrassed during this episode.”

Page’s records have been sealed and any fingerprints or photos taken during the case have since been destroyed.

Page has since left the Barenaked Ladies and set out on a solo career says 680 News.

“I will miss being a Barenaked Lady like crazy, but there are other lots of other things I’m really looking forward to,” he said. “No one’s going anywhere. I’m going to continue to make music and those guys are going to continue to make music as well. I think it will be good for everybody.”

Britain has first human-to-human swine flu transfer case

England has its first case of swine flu where the source was not in Mexico. An NHS worker has become infected with the flu. Graeme Pacitti, 24, caught the flu from his friend Iain Askham.

Askham had been honeymooning with his wife in Mexico when he picked up the virus.

One London student is in hospital. According to Professor Sir Roy Anderson, rector of Imperial College, London the pandemic is begun and the focus has to become on drug distribution.

The Daily Mail reports:

Sir Roy said the disease was being transmitted in a sustained way in the US, and this would happen in other countries.

He said: ‘The definition of phases five and six [of the WHO's pandemic alert scale] is somewhat irrelevant. A pandemic has started.’

At this time bundles of antiviral drugs have been sent to hospitals and clinics in the nation.

A public leaflet will be posted on Tuesday to advise people on the virus and how to take precautions.

If the phase level goes to Phase 6 then schools in the UK may be closed.

The Guardian reports:

The Cabinet Office’s document said: “As children will have no residual immunity, they could be amongst the groups worst affected and can be ’super spreaders’. In the 1957 pandemic, up to 50% of schoolchildren developed influenza and, in some residential schools, attack rates reached up to 90%, often affecting the whole school within a fortnight.

“Closing schools to pupils as an adjunct to the antiviral treatment planned for a pandemic might reduce its peak impact by an additional 10%, and the total number of clinical cases by 10%, compared with antiviral treatment alone.

“Advising all schools in an affected area to close may offer the most practical option … While this would disrupt education and have a significant negative effect on services and businesses, particularly those highly dependent on working parents, these disadvantages would be outweighed by the children’s lives saved.”

What frightful aspect being discussed in the UK is who will get ICU treatment in the nation if hospital beds run out. One option is a lottery system.

The Daily Mail reports:

The Department of Health dossier, called ‘Pandemic Influenza: Surge Capacity and Prioritisation in Health Services’, details how intensive care patients would be ranked according to their risk of death and the benefit of treatment on a ventilator.

It says: ‘Ranking according to benefit will determine access for many patients. However, in the face of high demand there may be patients between whom the clinicians cannot differentiate on the basis of benefit.

‘At this stage, allocation of Intensive Care Unit treatment may require a random selection (lottery) process.’

Of course the disease outbreak is not near that level at this time.

Vaccine manufacturers do not have the capacity to produce enough vaccine in time for the fall for everyone. It is being discussed if pensioners may be put at risk form the seasonal flu because of vaccine shortfalls.

Professor John Oxford, virologist at Barts hospital in London, said: ‘Even if swine flu gets going, there’s still seasonal flu to contend with.

We don’t want a sizable population of over-seventies going down with seasonal flu.

‘I think that could be a crisis. If the supply of seasonal flu vaccine falls, it will put the elderly at risk of normal seasonal flu.

‘This winter we saw high rates of flu and that could easily happen again next year. We could see excess deaths.’

Another possible problem is that stocks of drugs like Tamiflu could be depleted because of the focus of the swine flu. That would leave seasonal flu victims without. At this stage of the outbreak it is still a wait and see game.

Michelle Obama Walks White House Dog Most Often

When kids are told that they have to walk their new puppy they promise that they are up for the challenge. That’s often not the case. It’s no different for the First Family. Michelle Obama has become the one to walk Bo the most.

The First Lady seems like most moms in the world. She looks after the kids, walks the dog and takes pride in her home. The one thing she doesn’t miss now that her home is the White House is cooking.

People reports:

“Even though the kids are supposed to do a lot of the work, I’m still up at 5:15 a.m. taking my dog out. So for everyone who has a child asking for a puppy – you have to want the dog,” Mrs. Obama said to knowing laughter from a luncheon audience of congressional spouses. “As I do,” she added. “I love my Bo.”

And like other moms she is working hard outside of the home. One of her projects is fostering community service. As she told a group at a congressional club luncheon.

But service groups, and non-profits, faith-based organizations, philanthropists, corporations, government, individuals of all ages have had to play a role in moving this country forward. The question that we have to ask ourselves now as individuals is “What will I do? What am I willing to do in these times?” Because these times are tough.

About 62 million people or a little over a quarter of U.S. citizens volunteer each year to help improve their community in some way. And about $300 billion a year is donated to support the work of religious institutions, foundations and non-profits to further causes that make people healthier, that make neighborhoods safer, that make communities stronger.

Tracking H1N1 Influenza A Online

The last time a pandemic type flu hit the globe the public had to rely solely on public health officials. The times have changed with the Internet. It’s possible to track the spread of disease fairly easily with the right tools. The question is should we?

There’s a reason the experts are called expert. They have years of training that all the twits and online buzzes mean something to them. That’s not to say keeping aware of potential cases of H1N1 flu A isn’t something that the general public should stay away from either.

What the public should know is that many sites aren’t giving a real picture. Some are doing what they say they are such as Veratect. If you want to track the disease make sure the sources you are using are on the up and up. If they aren’t just supplying facts and offering opinions it may be a good idea to steer away from them.

Because I have been covering the story for Digital Journal I am tracking the cases and scope of the illness with a few Twitter sites. WHO, the CDC and Veratect appear to have the most up-to-date information on the social network Twitter.

Another source is healthmap a Boston company created by Clark Freifeld and John Brownstein that is tracking the virus. It is offered in several languages and is easy to read and navigate. The company is funded by google.org and has the support of CIHR, NLM and the CDC. The system collects reports from 17 sources, which extract information from
over 20,000 websites, every hour, 24 hours a day. The system collects an
average of 300 reports per day.

Healthmap works with local health departments, government agencies and multi-national agencies to give an up to day view of the world concerning this outbreak.

Iggy Pop In Commercial Controversy

Iggy Pop is in the news for starring in a car insurance television commercial that misleads the public in the UK. Iggy is shown golfing and being himself in the ad for an insurance company as an entertainer he couldn’t really be covered by.

The problem is the insurance company refuses to insure celebs because of added risks. Swiftcover’s ad has Iggy Pop stating, “I got it Swiftcovered! I got insurance on my insurance!”

The fact is the singer isn’t nor according to the company’s policies able to be insured.

Chart Attack reports:

“Because the policy was promoted by a well-known musician, which might lead some viewers to believe the policy covered those who worked in entertainment, when it did not, and because Iggy Pop did not have a policy with Swiftcover, we concluded the ad was misleading,” the ASA said in a report.

The company has no intentions of getting rid of Iggy even though the ad was banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

Chart Attack reports:

“Iggy Pop and swiftcover.com have made motor insurance interesting for a change, increasing awareness of swiftcover.com and sending our sales soaring by almost a third, so we would be crazy to lose Iggy,” Swiftcover spokesperson Tina Shortle told British newspaper The Guardian.

The £25 million ($36 million) car insurance ad campaign started up in January.

Punk News reports:

According to a Billboard.com report, complaints object that it is “misleading because it uses a well-known figure from the music industry to promote an insurance service which they believe excludes musicians,” according to an ASA spokesperson. As a result, the ASA has launched an investigation to determine whether the ad breaches the U.K.’s TV Advertising Code.

The owner of Swiftcover, AXA UK says that there is no reference to Iggy Pop’s profession in the ad. He was selected because he’s known as a man who lives life to the fullest.

Supreme Court Justice David Souter Retiring

For more than 18 years Supreme Court Justice David Souter has sat on the nation’s highest court. Source says he might be retiring at the age of 69 in June when the current court recesses.

Souter has been on the Supreme Court since 1990 when then President George H.W. Bush appointed him. He proved to be a moderate judge to the disappointment of many conservatives.

Filling Souter’s seat will be President Obama’s first Supreme Court appointment. The last seat filled was Samuel Alito in 2006 by President George W. Bush.

Souter’s announcement was a surprise to Washington. While the announcement was a surprise it is known in Washington circles that Souter much prefers the quiet of his quiet home to the life he leads in Washington D.C.

The Rhodes Scholar earned his law degrees at Harvard University. He rose through the ranks becoming New Hampshire’s attorney general in 1976 and became a state court judge in 1978. In 1990 he was on the federal appeals court in Boston just a few months before he was picked by President Bush for the Supreme Court.

Couple Caught Having Sex On The Queen’s Front Lawn

There are some people who enjoy having sex in public places but most couples draw the line on doing the act on someone else’s front lawn. Not so for a couple in the UK who got down to business at Windsor Castle on Thursday.

The lusty couple bypassed Please Keep Off The Grass signs and got to action in full view of everyone, even had they been around the Queen’s Corgis.

The Guardian quoted witness Mark Robinson who watched the free sex show until the police came onto the scene.

“The officers told them to stop and the sight of the uniforms seemed to snap them out of it. They were unsteady on their feet and the guy pulled his trousers up and helped the girl put hers back on.

“The Japanese tourists were comparing their videos.”

The man finally pulled up his pants when the police arrived on the scene. He then did the gentlemanly thing and helped his lady friend with hers.

According to Monsters and Critics a source said:

“The queen was in residence at the time, but her private apartments are at the other end so she would have been blissfully unaware of it.

“But she was not particularly amused when, some years ago, a couple were caught bonking in a tree in her back garden ? Windsor Great Park.”

The couple was arrested and cautioned for outraging public decency. The couple is said to have been drinking.

Joy Taylor, 35, and Phil Carden, 30, are said to now be fearing the axe when their employers hear about their sexy romp.

Pot Tax Approved For Oakland, Voters To Decide

The Oakland City Council has approved a 1.8% tax on medical marijuana sold inside the city. If voters pass the proposal in July the city will be the first in the nation to tax the drug.

This could be a first step in legitimizing medical marijuana in the state of California and is a victory for advocates.

The tax would be paid by dispensary operators for every $1,000 in gross receipts. Currently they are paying about $1.20 and the change would raise that to as much as $24.

Opposing Views reports:

Four state-licensed dispensaries operate in Oakland.Oakland attorney James Anthony, legal counsel for the Harborside Health Center dispensary and a member of the NORML Legal Committee, told the Oakland Tribune that “paying a higher tax rate could show the 120 jurisdictions across the state that have banned medical marijuana sales that ‘medical cannabis dispensaries are good neighbors’ that can help provide cities with revenue.”

In February another major victory came for advocates when the U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said that the federal government would no longer be raiding state-approved dispensaries.

California is one of 13 states that has legal medical marijuana. Anyone over the age of 18 who obtains a doctor’s recommendation is able to be allowed to obtain the drug. There are an estimated 200,000 medical-marijuana users in the state. Users are already paying a sales tax on the drug.

If Oakland does approve the additional tax it could bring the city at least $400,000 and possibly more than a million dollars a year. Oakland is also proposing tax measures for hotel patrons, corporate mergers and an adjustment to Measure OO, which requires that money be set aside for youth recreation programs. All of the proposals could help the city come up with an extra $6 to $8 million a year.

The city is currently facing an $83 million shortfall in this year’s budget.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

“We wanted to further legitimize the medical-marijuana paradigm to show that we are truly willing to assist [Oakland], and to show other cities that there are social benefits to this,” said Keith Stephenson, executive director of Purple Heart Patient Center.

There doesn’t appear to be any formed opposition against the proposal and medical-marijuana advocates are positive that it will be passed during the vote.

Lam Luong Sentenced to Death For Murder of Four Children

Lam Luong, who in January 2008 threw his four children off the Daupin Island Bridge, was sentenced to death in an Alabama courtroom Thursday.

Judge Charles Graddick sentenced Luong to death on Thursday after the jury recommended the death penalty in March. Luong was found guilty for the murders of Ryan Phan, 3; Hannah Luong, 2; Lindsey Luong, 1; and Danny Luong, 4 months when he threw them into the coastal waters of Alabama from the Daupin Island Bridge.

The average time between sentencing and execution in Alabama is 15 years. During that time Judge Graddick has ordered that Luong be shown photographs of the four children every day on death row.

Luong was also ordered to pay $50 million in restitution. That’s a debt that will not be paid because Luong could not afford legal council. The judge put the fee in the mix to ensure that if the man sells the rights to his story for a book or movie deal he will not profit from it.

CTV’s Fecan Asks Government For Cable Regulation

Is it time for the Canadian government to step in and regulate cable rates? CTVglobal media Inc.’s chief executive Ivan Fecan thinks so.

Fecan spoke in front of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission seeking a renewal of its TV licence on a one-year basis instead of the typical seven-year term. The request is a result of the financial crisis.

CTVglobal has a three point reform plan that they are presenting to parliment.

1. The immediate implementation of fee for carriage. “Fee-for-carriage
does not need to impact the consumer nor will it invoke undue harm to
the cable and satellite industry,” said Mr. Fecan. “This is an
industry-to-industry matter”.

2. Satellite carriage for local TV stations. “We simply would like the
CRTC to uphold Parliament’s clear statement in the Broadcasting Act
that calls for priority carriage of local television stations.”

3. A hybrid digital transition strategy. “We cannot justify an
investment of several hundred million dollars to reach 9% of the
marketplace, particularly when this investment produces no additional
revenue in a business that is already teetering on the edge.”

The economic crisis is forcing private broadcasters to write down their value of assets by billions. CTVglobalmedia is planning on closing to stations by August in Windsor and Wingham, Ontario. Earlier this year in March it announced that 118 newsroom jobs were being cut and that morning shows at A Channels had been canceled. The company is not seeking licence renewal for a station in Brandon, Manitoba.

Financial Post reports:

“Please understand this is not a cash grab or greed from a private broadcaster. This is real. We are not bluffing,” Mr. Fecan said, adding that unless the CRTC introduces relief CTVglobemedia may be forced to shut down additional stations.

He’s not alone with the concern.

“We have cut every conceivable cost,” said Richard Gray, head of national news at CTVglobemedia’s A Channel chain.

The National Post reports that Fecan criticized the federal regulator.

“What I’m telling you is you are playing chicken with the studios, and the consequence may very well be the end of broadcasting as we know it in Canada,” Mr. Fecan told Mr. von Finckenstein at a special hearing into the state of the industry.

“What are you trying to achieve? I’m at a loss to consider why you, Mr. Chairman, who have no skin in this game, why you would play this kind of risk with our business.”

Fecan’s comments are in contrast to those made last week by Phil Lind, Vice Chairman of Rogers Communications Inc. before Parliament’s Heritage Committee. Lind said that the Canadian television industry is not in a crisis and believes that the call for fee-for-carriage was simply an unneeded tax on consumers.

On Thursday Canwest is expected to speak about their need to apply for a one-year licence.

CDC Confirms 109 Swine Flu Cases in U.S., 1 Death

Confirmed cases of swine flu in the United States is at 109 with 1 death. At this time six of those cases are in hospital with more serious symptoms, a CDC media conference explained.

Richard Besser, M.D., Acting Director, CDC gave today’s briefing to reporters at the CDC on the latest swine flu information.

On thoughts about closing borders it was noted that once the disease has crossed the border there is not an added value. There will continue to be surveillance at all borders for the disease.

In past modeling cases of flu outbreaks, mild cases protect future infections. It is not known if this will be the case though in the fall when it is suspected that there will be a larger outbreak.

Earlier today on TV Vice President Joe Biden said that he nor his family will be flying. Doctor Besser assured the reporters that public transport is safe at this time. Besser also noted that if you are ill do not use public transportation.

There have been some slight changes to the way the outbreak is behaving. A few more serious cases are beginning to be reported. Six patients are now in hospital. Besser had no other details on those cases. Besser also did not have the numbers of people going to the emergency rooms across the nation with suspected cases of swine flu.

We do know that the flu virus spreads easily in community settings. This virus is being investigated as to how easily it spreads but if it is like other flu viruses it does not require close personal contact.

“We don’t know yet how easily it is transmitted.”

If the need for a vaccine, which will [-b]not be ready until the fall arises it will then be decided who will get the shot. It will be impossible to produce enough vaccine for everyone in the US. The final decisions will be a matter of public discussion and knowing who the risk groups are at that time.

According to the latest numbers at WHO there are 236 confirmed cases worldwide.

As for suspected cases Veratect has non going non-stop in the past 24 hours that I have been monitoring them on twitter. The service is available for anyone who wishes to monitor them for free.

Last night President Obama spoke to the press about the swine flu.

Well, first of all, as I said, this is a cause for deep concern, but not panic. And I think that we have to make sure that we recognize that how we respond — intelligently, systematically, based on science and what public health officials have to say — will determine in large part what happens.

I’ve consulted with our public health officials extensively on a day-to-day basis, in some cases, an hour-to-hour basis. At this point they have not recommended a border closing. From their perspective it would be akin to closing the barn door after the horses are out, because we already have cases here in the United States. We have ramped up screening efforts, as well as made sure that additional supplies are there on the border so that we can prepare in the eventuality that we have to do more than we’re doing currently.

But the most important thing right now that public health officials have indicated is that we treat this the same way that we would treat other flu outbreaks, just understanding that because this is a new strain we don’t yet know how it will respond. So we have to take additional precautions — essentially, take out some additional insurance. That’s why I asked for an additional $1.5 million, so that we can make sure that everything is in place should a worst-case scenario play out.

Opinion: Where’s The Money? TTC and Toronto Dropped The Ball

It’s a case of putting the horse before the buggy in Toronto as no money in the coffers may mean no new fancy Bombardier streetcars in two years.

The problem is that when the TTC and Bombardier got the contact all together the only thing missing was the money to fund the project. Oops.

This isn’t high school where Junior can ask Daddy for a few extra million to go to the dance.

Come on I am sure that the TTC has a spare $1.2 billion laying on the tracks hidden away. With only 60 days to find those bills there just may be a bit of a problem.

The price on the table with Bombardier goes away on June 27. If they aren’t happy they can just walk away or they can tell the TTC to cough up more money.

Premier Dalton McGuinty says that those funds weren’t in the budget planning. So where’s the money? The Toronto Sun reports:

“It would have been helpful had we had a better understanding … a more comprehensive list of their priorities,” McGuinty told reporters yesterday.

The folks that could soon be working at the Thunder Bay Bombardier plant hope it can be found.

The Globe and Mail reports:

“I heard the news, I was in Waterloo, ‘Oh the city have said they’re going to do the contract with Bombardier.’ And in the next breath I heard we were paying for it. So that was a bit challenging,” George Smitherman, Ontario’s Minister of Energy and Infrastructure said April 28 at an event on the revitalization of Regent Park, with Mr. Miller just steps away. “I’m little bit perplexed… I’m not really accustomed to operating in an environment where you have an announcement about the acquisition of a product and the entering into of a contract, absent of the financial resources to do that.”

It’s not like the TTC is asking for all the money. So far the piggy bank has $9 million in it. So asking for the one-third rest shouldn’t be a problem, should it?

Chrysler Entering Bankruptcy Protection

President Barack Obama is due to make a statement on the future of the US car maker. Obama has said that the company would become stronger after any move into bankruptcy protection.

Chrysler is entering bankruptcy protection after failing to get their debtors to write off their debts.

The move almost guarantees that the company will be given billions of state loans if they could restructure the business by midnight Wednesday.

Obama is set to speak at noon about the Chrysler situation, appearing with members of his auto task force.

According to sources for the Globe and Mail, the car maker will be gaining $15 billion from both the US and Canadian governments to help Chrysler survive through bankruptcy protection.

On Thursday morning it is expected that the signing of a strategic alliance with Fiat SpA imminent.

Fiat will take a 20-per-cent stake in Chrysler.

The company will be split into two companies with its key Canadian operation placed with the part of the company that will form the basis for the Fiat-Chrysler strategic alliance. Unwanted assets will be placed into another operation.

Yesterday Chrysler released a LLC Statement in Response to UAW Ratification of Contract.

We are thankful to the Chrysler UAW members for their support in ratifying this contract, especially during these challenging times. This was a necessary step as we move forward in revitalizing this great Company. Today’s vote enables us to continue our work to meet the conditions laid out by the U. S. Treasury Department. The entire Chrysler leadership team believes in and appreciates the men and women that make up our great workforce worldwide.”

The members of the United Auto Workers have ratified a settlement deal with Chrysler. The vote was 82 per cent of production workers and 80 per cent of skilled-trade workers in favor.

The agreement will take effect on May 4. This is the last piece of the plan that the company will take to the meeting with the U.S. government to meet with the Thursday restructuring deadline.

A similar agreement was reached this past weekend with Canadian Auto Workers.

The Canadian government is set to have a press conference about this issue at 2 p.m., according to Derek Mellon, media relations at Ottawa headquarters.

This is a developing story, check back for updates

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will make a joint announcement with Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty today. They are expected to announce that Canada and Ontario will have a two per cent equity stake in restructured Chrysler.

Officials expect that Chrysler to be in bankruptcy for 60 days only. The plan with the federal government is allowing the company to keep 30,000 jobs at Chrysler and its suppliers.

Fiat has agreed to transfer billions in cutting-edge technology to help Chrysler. Also, the United Auto Workers has agreed to further concessions, such cuts to benefits.

Impaired Driving Laws Are Changing In Ontario

If you are caught in Ontario driving impaired on Friday the laws will be stricter than they are today. If you value your licence be wise, don’t drink and drive.

From May 1 if you are stopped with a blood alcohol concentration from 0.05 to 0.08 your licence can be suspended right there for three days for a first occurrence, seven days for a second occurrence and 30 days for a third or subsequent occurrence. The judge won’t be involved. Bottom line, you drink, you drive, you lose.

The Ministry of Transportation’s web page gives Ontarian a clear view of what the new laws are.

Consequences for Driving with a 0.05 to 0.08 “Warn Range” Blood Alcohol Concentration

First Time

* 3-day licence suspension
* $150 Administrative Monetary Penalty

Second Time (within 5 years)

* 7-day licence suspension
* Mandatory alcohol education program
* $150 Administrative Monetary Penalty

Third Time (within 5 years)

* 30-day licence suspension
* Mandatory alcohol treatment program
* Six-month ignition interlock licence condition
* $150 Administrative Monetary Penalty

Subsequent infractions (within 5 years)

* 30-day licence suspension
* Mandatory alcohol treatment program
* Six-month ignition interlock licence condition
* Mandatory medical evaluation
* $150 Administrative Monetary Penalty

If you are stopped don’t bother calling a lawyer, they can’t stop your licence suspension. When the police nab you on the road there is no appeal process. Each suspension will be recorded on your driver’s licence. For the next five years you will be considered when determining consequences for subsequent infractions.

You will be given a suspension notice by a police officer, indicating that the suspension of your licence takes effect immediately. The police officer will take your licence from you and send it back to the Ministry of Transportation (MTO).

If the police send your licence to the MOT a reinstatement notice will be mailed to you. The notice will include a Temporary Driver’s Licence as long as nothing shows up when they run your licence. You can take your paper temporary licence to a a Driver and Vehicle Licence Issuing Office to pay the $150 administrative monetary penalty. Your new plastic card will then be mailed out to you.

If you do not get the reinstatement in the mail you mail obtain a TDL from a Driver and Vehicle Licence Issuing Office.

If your licence has been suspended for 30 days you will not be allowed to drive any vehicle that does not have an ignition interlock device installed. The in-car alcohol breath screening device that prevents a vehicle from starting if it detects a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) over a pre-set limit of .02 (i.e., 20 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood).

In Ontario about 17,000 drivers are convicted of Criminal Code of Canada offences every year. These offenses range from impaired driving, driving with a blood alcohol concentration of more than 0.08, criminal negligence causing bodily harm or death, manslaughter, dangerous driving and failure to remain at the scene of a collision. The largest amount (about 3/4) of these crimes are a result of drinking and driving. One fourth of deaths that occur on Ontario roads are a result of drinking and driving. In 2005 174 people died because of a drunk driver and 3,852 more were injured by those drivers.

The smartest thing to do is not drink at all if you plan to be driving home.

So why was the ‘warn range’ changed? Drivers will a BAC above 0.05 but still below 0.08 are 7.2 times more likely to be in a fatal accident than drivers with a 0 BAC.

National Post to Stop Monday Editions During Summer

Canada’s National Post is going to stop Monday editions during the summer. The decision to stop the Monday edition is an attempt to lower newsprint costs starting June 29. The action will follow for the next nine Mondays.

The company is owned by Canwest.

Canwest is having problems with creditors itself. The company is carrying roughly $4 billion of debt.

Canwest is also considering selling five TV stations and has agreed to sell its stake in sports broadcaster Score Media.

The company owns a chain of daily newspapers in Canada. It also owns the Global network.

Reuters reports:

Analysts have said Canwest could file for bankruptcy protection, but the company thus far has continued to negotiate with creditors rather than involve the courts.

Fans of the Score Network don’t have to fear that its going anywhere.

” We’re not going anywhere,” Chris Suppa, a producer for the Score told Digital Journal.

“Regarding the stock, it’s great for the company long term, being able to invest in ourselves, it makes us stronger. Not many media companies can say they’re experiencing stability, much less growth, but we are,” Suppa said.

The total number of shares that Canwest sold back to Score was 16 million shares.

WHO media briefing on swine flu, April 29

The latest news from the World Health Organization is much the same as in past days. WHO meet with reporters online at 5 pm Geneva time April 29 with Dr Keiji Fukuda, Assistant Director-General ai, Health Security and Environment answering questions.

What is known at this point:

The virus spreads person to person
The virus started as a swine flu and has been able to adapt to acting like a human flu virus.
The cases are mostly mild except for in Mexico at this point.
Studies are underway to study the transmission methods of the virus.
Eating cooked pork will not cause the swine flu.
That all of the test samples look very much the same globally.
Right now there is no evidence that other bacterial infections are involved with serious cases. This could change with further studies.

The numbers as of 5 PM at WHO Headquarters are:

Canada- 13 cases
United States- 64/ 1 death
Mexico-26/7 deaths
Israel- 2
Spain-4
United Kingdom-2
New Zealand-3

Where We Are Now

The transmission rate does not slow signs of slowing.
We are not yet at a Phase 5 level, although that could change quickly. While there is evidence that the swine flu does spread well in a school situation the Phase 5 status will come if it starts to spread in neighbourhoods of two or more countries.
While the swine flu is very much like seasonal flu there is a higher rate of diarrhea and vomiting associated with it.
There are now cases that have been reported where Mexico may not have been a factor. WHO is investigating to see if there is a link.

WHO is not sure yet of the ratio of mild/serious/fatal cases as of yet.
WHO is not sure yet if there are risk factors for those with serious disease.

“One of the features of this type of outbreak is that the initial numbers are confusing. WHO can’t address why the numbers are conflicting. I can’t address the specifics.”

Where We Are Going

Because the evidence is that the transmission of the swine flu virus is not likely to stop spreading we must be prepared. The WHO has mentioned a number of times the similarities between this outbreak and the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. During the 1918 pandemic the initial start was a mild period of outbreak with a very quiet summer period and then a very deadly fall pandemic.

“It’s premature to think of the swine flu as mild. We just don’t know yet. In the 1918 Spanish Flu the patterns were similar. This is the time to prepare and figure out how to proceed.”

When asked why some of the new global cases cite Cancun as a location where the virus was imported and yet Cancun is not listed as an outbreak area Dr Keiji Fukuda said it was quite possible that the test results have just not gotten in right in that location.

For the near future WHO and other health agencies will be focusing on how the overall picture of the disease is going and how best to protect people. In the future they will turn back and look for the origin of the outbreak.

Victoria George-Pazzano Dies At 29

Victoria George-Pazzano, 29, died at Peterborough Regional Health Centre’s Intensive Care Unit around 9:45 p.m. last night. The Toronto woman’s return home was delayed after an asthma attack in Mexico.

The family knew that Victoria was unlikely to survive her illness but wanted her to be at home. The market researcher was in Cancun last week with her husband and son when she had a severe asthma attack.

Although the family had travel insurance provided by RBC and an air ambulance willing to bring the woman home they had a difficult time finding an ICU bed in Ontario.

The Toronto Star quoted husband Dylan Pazzano yesterday outside of Peterborough Regional Health Centre:

“I’m going to lose my wife. The people behind me are all going to lose somebody so special. But we finally achieved what we wanted, to get her back home.”

Mr. Pazzano spoke highly on the medical staff in Cancun who tended to his wife.

Government leaders Frank Klaas and Jack Layton both worked Monday to get the young woman home.

Inside Toronto quotes Jack Layton:

They had to go through hoops,” he said of the family in an interview Tuesday afternoon. “People shouldn’t have to have questions asked on the floor of the House of Commons to get their loved one home safely.”

Victoria’s husband Dylan Pazanno, her mother, Pauline George, and sisters were at the hospital with her when she passed away.

Veratech Inc. Warned Clients About Swine Flu Outbreak April 6

Veratech Inc. is on the cutting edge when it comes to searching the web for signs of pandemics. The two-year-old company had a hunch two weeks ago that something was up, a week before the CDC and WHO. How is that possible?

“In this rapidly evolving outbreak, early intervention can mean the difference between life
and death for people in countries potentially affected by swine influenza. We want to
provide Veratect’s services to everyone concerned about this outbreak so they can have the
information they need to respond in a timely and effective manner,” said Robert (Bob)
Hart, president and CEO.

The company combines computer algorithms with human analysts to monitor online and off-line sources for hints of disease outbreaks and civil unrest worldwide. Tracking ‘events’ the company ranks them for severity and posts them on their site for the paying clients who want in on early warnings.

In the past week Veratect and other companies that work with the same goal have been getting more clients.

They are able to track information about possible outbreaks by using blogs, online chat rooms, Twitter feeds and news media and government Web sites are full of data that public health agencies to see if there is a potential hot spot, often before the agencies can see a pattern forming.

The swine flu is a case in point. Veratect had posted a report to their clients on April 6 when there was an unusual number of respiratory illnesses in Veracruz, the new known epi-center of the outbreak. They also sent an email to the Centers of Disease Control on April 16 pointing out an outbreak of atypical l pneumonia in Oaxaca state when officials issues an alert.

Yahoo Tech reports:

“Playing the blame game is one of those indicators” that something unusual is going on, said Dr. James Wilson, Veratect’s chief scientist. When the company posted the La Gloria information, it treated the incident as a matter of “moderate severity.”

Of course there are some glitches with the program. Veratect reported that a Canadian lawyer was hospitalized in March with the swine flu after a trip to Mexico. That turned out to be wrong.

Still the company had already given their clients a head up before the world health authorities were on the case in a public way.

Dr. Scott Dowell, who heads the CDC’s international swine flu team, admits that his agency looks at the reports from companies like Veratech while monitoring outbreaks around the world. He says that Veratect is often useful about emerging threats.

Veratech leans towards the business client. They work with corporate, financial services, non government organizations, insurance and government agencies.

Veratect has less than 50 employees but that may be changing. They are actively looking for high-end employees.

The company is on twitter and gives updates often. Recent updates include:

* Spain: Number of confirmed swine influenza cases rises to four; most recent in Bilbao. #swineflu 11 minutes ago
* Costa Rica: Health Minister states laboratory results on a third “highly probable case” will be available soon. #swineflu 15 minutes ago
* Costa Rica: Second confirmed swine influenza case is a 29-year-old male who recently returned from Mexico. #swineflu 16 minutes ago

Paulette Zimmerman, a spokeswoman for the company Veratech answered the following questions for Digital Journal:

Can the average person become one of your clients?

Veratect’s service is geared towards federal and non-government organizations (NGOs) and Fortune 500 companies in a variety of industry sectors. However, the average the person can follow information provided by Veratect on disease outbreak and civil unrest via twitter.

How much does your service cost?

The cost will vary depending on how many reports and organization wishes to receive and the level of monitoring they need.

Do you send your information to public health groups (like the CDC) for free?

For this particular crisis (Swine Influenza), they are sending information for free.

Ms. Zimmerman also sent a pdf. file of James M. Wilson MD’s testimony in front of Homeland Security to Digital Journal.

James M. Wilson MD, Chief Technical Officer and Chief Scientist for Veratech addressed the Home Homeland Security Committee on July 16, 2008 about developing the art and science of timely, accurate, sensitive and specific detection and warning for disease – early enough to do something
about it before it enters the global transportation and commerce grid.

During the winter
of 2006 and 2007, the team issued nearly 3,000 event reports across 128 countries and 27
languages, which included 181 Advisories, 58 Watches, and 38 Warnings. Our team
identified hundreds of reports of a type A / H3N2 influenza virus that appeared to have
drifted away from the current vaccine strain of H3N2 beginning in early January 2007 in
Beijing, China, six weeks prior to the WHO Consultation on the Composition of
Influenza Vaccine for the Northern Hemisphere. We later found similar reports in a
multitude of countries and collaboratively worked with CDC to track this important
finding. The value of this information was validated when the World Health
Organization and its partners recommended a change in the southern hemisphere
influenza vaccine to include an updated H3N2 strain.

Veritech had at the time (2007) an estimated coverage of 82% of the world’s population now, in near real time. By the end of 2008, we will have expanded this coverage to more then 90%. (which they have done so)

Man Allegedly Kidnaps Child To Force Mother Into Prostitution

A Toronto man allegedly forced a mother into prostitution by kidnapping her daughter, 3. The child was located last night and is in the care of Children’s Aid Society.

The police arrested the suspect yesterday morning. Tyrone Dillon has been charged with
10 counts including procuring a person to become a prostitute, exercising control, procuring illicit sex and living off the avails of prostitution.

He is set to appear in court later today.

There are few details about the incident. What is known from police records is that the woman asked the suspect to watch her daughter. He then took the child to a babysitter and refused to tell the mother where her child was.

Investigators allege that the suspect used the child as leverage to coerce the mother into working as a prostitute for him.

The mother tried to escape and the suspect is said to have assaulted her.

Police believe there may be more victims in this case.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call police at 416-808-3105, Crime Stoppers at 416-222-TIPS or online at 222tips.com.

Man arrested after posting Craigslist ad requesting sex, murder

An ad on the popular website Craigslist, under the “casual encounters’ section, lead to the arrest of a man in Seattle who showed up at a motel ready for a little sex and murder.

The man posted that he wanted to have sex with a woman and then kill her. He finished his ad with “Serious iquiries (sic) only please.”

Thankfully the police were waiting for him instead of an intended murder victim. It appears the guy was serious because he showed up at the motel with a length of chain and a knife to live out his fantasy.

The man and what he believed was a woman exchanged a series of emails to come to a price for his desires. That price tag was $2,000.

The police were notified about the ad by a Craigslist employee email on April 22. Over the next several days an undercover detective communicated with the man several times via email.

While the suspect had been looking for a consensual arrangement, the police turned the tables on him asking if he would be willing to murder someone for a fee.

The set-up in place the detective gave the man a location to meet at a local motel. As the suspect knocked on the motel room door he was arrested.

TheBoston Herald reports a phone interview with a woman who was at the suspect’s home:

“He didn’t do anything,” said the woman who asked not to be named. “If he was doing anything, he was trying to figure out a way to get money. He had no intent to go through with it. She said she read some of the e-mails between police and her boyfriend and she said the police “definitely entrapped him.” She said the issue of payment was brought up by officers, not by her boyfriend. They offered him money and we’re broke, living at our grandmother’s house,” she said. “He actually has a lot, lot, lot of mental issues that need to be dealt with,” she said. ” … But he’s not really the person they’re making him out to be. He’s a good person, an amazing father and I love him and support him.”

The suspect has been convicted in the past for indecent exposure. The hearing on that case was scheduled for Thursday.

He’s being held in the King County Jail.

‘There Is No Bed Available’- Sad Reality For Sick Out of Ontario

You’ve prepared for your vacation out of the country with travel insurance, medical insurance and a passport handy. Then the worse case scenario happens, you become ill and want to get home. If you’re from Ontario you may find there’s no bed available.

Just yesterday that case was illustrated when Victoria George-Pazzano’s family was told that there was no bed in all of Southern Ontario for her after she became critically ill following an asthma attack in Mexico. She has since been flown back to the province and her family is with her at the Peterborough Regional Health Centre.

She is not alone. Each year Ontarians that get ill out of the country face not being able to have a bed. One politician that is working on this issue is Frank Klees, MPP for Newmarket-Aurora. Klees is now running for Premier with the Progressive Conservative party. One of his biggest platforms is health care issues for those living in Ontario.

In an interview with Digital Journal Wednesday morning Klees expressed his concern not only in the George-Pazzano case but all of the other cases that he has seen that the same action took place. He has been involved with Victoria’s plight but is not taking credit for helping her return home, although he could take partial credit. His voice in Parliament does speak louder than just the common man when getting the powers that be to listen.

“The case reveals the real tragedy. The family did all the right things, they got insurance for example. Then when tragedy hit they were told there were no beds available. This is a problem of communication between the government and the management of the hospitals and the Ministry of Health. It shows that the Ministry of Health does not know what is really going on in the system.”

Klees wants to bridge the huge gaps that are going on between the Health Ministry and the realities of health care in the province. He also wants those in Ontario to be aware that this issue could face them if they get sick outside of the country and want to be repatriated into a Ontario hospital.

“It’s a great concern that no one can assume that they can return home to Ontario if they get sick out of the country.”

That’s not how it looks on paper but it’s the sad truth for some of those who have had to hear the words ‘there’s no beds available.’

All pigs in Egypt going to slaughter

The government in Egypt is set to slaughter all pigs in the nation. They are doing this as a precautionary measure against the swine flu.

The Star Online reports:

“It is decided to slaughter all swine herds present in Egypt, starting from today,” Health Minister Hatem el-Gabali said in a statement published by state news agency MENA.

The Health Ministry says that about 300,000 pigs will begin to be slaughtered immediately.

At this time Egypt says that there are no cases of swine flu in their nation.

NATO Issues Strict Rules For Afghan News Coverage

NATO is imposing strict new restrictions on foreign journalists covering the war in southern Afghanistan. The new rules could very well affect the news that the Canadian people will now be getting from Kandahar.

The new rules have been in place since early March. The enforcement of the rules by the US military is very much like what is in place for reporters covering the news in Iraq.

It is now impossible for Canadian journalists to leave Kandahar Airfield without an escort and then return safely to NATO’s principle base.

Canadian soldiers are required to escort newly arrived journalists everywhere on the airfield. That includes the military going into the showers with reporters.

Some journalists have been confined to sleeping quarters when they are not working.

This measure has been temporarily suspended under pressure from the Canadian military. The military has tried to have the policy reversed.

The Toronto Star reports:

“The media is not the enemy and this is a form of censorship – and it is unacceptable,” Liberal MP Denis Coderre said Tuesday.

“There is a public interest to know what’s going on in the field.”

The Canadian Association Journalists have called on the Harper government to put pressure on the Pentagon to reverse this policy.

The Star reports:

“It sounds like the more control they have over journalists, where they go, who they talk to, they’ll be able to shape the story in a much effective way,” she said.

“That ultimately is not effective for Canadians’ understanding of what’s really going on.”

Some of the same rules do not apply to journalists from the United States. Those rules are a violation of their rights under the United States constitution. One of the differences is that Canadian reporters are also compelled to forfeit their passports to the military for the duration of their stay.

The new measures appear to affect Canadian news organizations the most. Other NATO countries have sent groups of reporters through Kandahar for short-term assignments.

Reporters have noted that an informal reason for the new guidelines is that some U.S. private contractors have been accused of stealing.

The new rules require Canadian journalists be given a full federal government security screening, involving background checks to be granted accreditation.

This new mandate comes just as Washington is about to booster the troops with an additional 21,000 combat soldiers and trainers.

The U.S. security team at Kandahar Airfield has stopped issuing International Security Assistance Force accreditation since February. Now journalists are only given base visitor passes. These passes restrict movements and require those with the passes to be closely monitored.

Some of the stories that Canadian journalists in the past covered had to do with the allegations of torture among Taliban prisoners and the lives of refugees who have been left homeless after bombing raids.

Canadian troops in Kandahar are stationed at the air field also.

Four Cases Of Swine Flu Confirmed In Ontario

Ontario has reported that there are four cases of swine flu. Three of the cases are in Durham and one is in the York Region.

All four cases in the province of Ontario have a Mexico connection.

Dr. David Williams, Ontario’s Associate chief medical officer of health says that all of the cases are mild.

The patients are all recovering at home.

In Canada there are 13 confirmed cases of the swine flu. On Tuesday Alberta and Ontario reported their first cases.

The Canadian Press reports:

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said seven new cases were reported Tuesday: four in Ontario, two in Alberta, and one in B.C.

“I want to stress that all these cases have been mild … and they do not change our course of action,” she told a news conference.

“Decisions are being made based on the best available information coming to me from one of the best health systems in the world.”

Healthy Body Image Badge Coming Soon For The Girl Guides

The Girl Guides of Canada have come out with a new badge to promote a healthy body image. Girls from five to seventeen can earn the Love Yourself Challenge badge that promotes healthy eating, a positive body image and self-esteem.

The new badge is purple is green with three female stick figures of differently shaped girls and will be launched on May 11.

The challenge program was helped by the National Eating Disorder Information Centre. The Center approached the Girl Guides about the idea last year.

There are different activities depending on the age of the girl earning the badge.

In recent years the Girl Guides have been working on updating their image.

CBC reports:

“Guiding has an old-fashioned stigma to it. It’s been around for 100 years and our membership has dropped,” Rebecca Tye, girl program coordinator for the group, said Tuesday.

“We don’t usually deal with something so progressive … but we know it’s important to our 80,000 members,” she added.

The Guides started in 1909 when Lord Baden-Powell at the Crystal Palace in London, Great Britain organized a Scouting rally for boys. To his surprise a number of girls showed up. Baden-Powell impressed by the girls asked his sister Agnes to create a program just for them.

By 1910 the program had come to Canada with the first unit in St. Catherines, Ontario. In just two years there were units in each province.

Ontario Says No Beds for Canadian Victoria George-Pazzano

When Victoria George-Pazzano, 29, fell ill after a severe asthma attack last Tuesday while on vacation in Cancun she was placed on life support. Her family wants her to come home to Ontario. The only problem is that no hospital in Ontario will accept her.

George-Pazzano has travel insurance that will pay the costs of her medical evacuation to Toronto. Her husband, Dylan Pazzano says that because of the fear of swine flu no hospitals will accept his wife. He wants his son, 5, to be able to spend some time with his mother before she passes away.

CBC reports:

“I am disgusted, I am ashamed right now to call myself Canadian,” he told CBC News in a telephone interview from Mexico. “There’s no words to describe what I am going through right now.”

Pazzano has been told that there isn’t a ICU bed available in southern Ontario for his wife. The family’s insurance company has searched for a bed from East York to Hamilton and they have been unable to locate a bed.

That’s not the case says the Ministry of Health. There are no shortages of ICU beds in Southern Ontario nor are there any prohibitions placed on transporting patients from Mexico to Toronto.

CBC reports:

“The bottom line is that a Canadian was waiting to be repatriated and there was not a hospital in the province of Ontario, certainly not in the GTA, that was willing to receive her. That’s the tragedy here,” said member of provincial parliament Frank Klees.

Klees has tried to help the family bring Victoria home without success.

When Digital Journal contacted Jennifer Gougeon, Public Affairs Assistant of the University Health Network which includes Toronto Western Hospital and Toronto General Hospital was unaware of the case. On a return call she said that she would get back to us with any information. She was not sure if at this time there are beds available in the ICU unit.

Frank Klees, MPP for Newmarket is on the road and can’t return calls at this time.

footnote:

George-Pazzano is being taken to the Peterborough Regional Health Centre.

She is still in a critical condition and on life support, said a family member earlier today.

Late last night, George credited the media and several MPPs for bringing her daughter home.

“The media has been fantastic…As have elected officials,” said George. If not for them, “I don’t think we would have had this event today,” she said.

Veracruz, Mexico is Suspected Ground Zero For Swine FluVeracruz, with its many pig farms, is suspected of being Ground Zero for the swine flu. The Gulf of Mexico coastal state had at least one confirmed case before the first death. Tests have confirmed that a 4-year-old boy contracted swine flu at least two weeks before the outbreak claimed its first life. The case was part of a normal strain of influenza outbreak that took place in early April. The boy recovered from the illness. It’s not clear if that one case spawned the epidemic. Granjas Carroll de Mexico, which is partly owned by Virginia-based Smithfield Foods, is near the epicenter. The Toronto Star reports that farming company has released a statement that said: has found no clinical signs or symptoms of the presence of swine influenza in the company’s swine herd or its employees at its joint ventures in Mexico.” La Gloria’s community of 3,000 believe that their town is ground zero. More than 450 residents say that they are suffering from respiratory problems from contamination spread by pig waste at nearby breeding farms co-owned by a U.S. company. AP reports: But Jose Luis Martinez, a 34-year-old resident of La Gloria, said he knew the minute he learned about the outbreak on the news and heard a description of the symptoms: fever, coughing, joint aches, severe headache and, in some cases, vomiting and diarrhea. “When we saw it on the television, we said to ourselves, ‘This is what we had,’” he said Monday. “It all came from here. … The symptoms they are suffering are the same that we had here.”

Veracruz, with its many pig farms, is suspected of being Ground Zero for the swine flu. The Gulf of Mexico coastal state had at least one confirmed case before the first death.

Tests have confirmed that a 4-year-old boy contracted swine flu at least two weeks before the outbreak claimed its first life.

The case was part of a normal strain of influenza outbreak that took place in early April. The boy recovered from the illness. It’s not clear if that one case spawned the epidemic.

Granjas Carroll de Mexico, which is partly owned by Virginia-based Smithfield Foods, is near the epicenter. The Toronto Star reports that farming company has released a statement that said: has found no clinical signs or symptoms of the presence of swine influenza in the company’s swine herd or its employees at its joint ventures in Mexico.”

La Gloria’s community of 3,000 believe that their town is ground zero. More than 450 residents say that they are suffering from respiratory problems from contamination spread by pig waste at nearby breeding farms co-owned by a U.S. company.

AP reports:

But Jose Luis Martinez, a 34-year-old resident of La Gloria, said he knew the minute he learned about the outbreak on the news and heard a description of the symptoms: fever, coughing, joint aches, severe headache and, in some cases, vomiting and diarrhea.

“When we saw it on the television, we said to ourselves, ‘This is what we had,’” he said Monday. “It all came from here. … The symptoms they are suffering are the same that we had here.”

Juan Lubroth, an animal health expert at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome, believes that the Mexican government has shown a sound based surveillance system dealing with their swine. He noted that the system had previously eliminated an unrelated disease from the country’s commercial pig population, which he said is a good indication that they also are conducting adequate reviews of pigs for swine flu.

The LA Times reports:

“We never had this type of epidemic, this type of virus in the world,” Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said at a news conference Monday. “We don’t know how many days this will go on, because it’s the first time in the world this virus has appeared.”

Afghan President Karzai Pledges To Change Shia Family Law

Yesterday Afghan President Hamid Karzai pledged to change the law that many in the world has deemed a legal way for men to rape their wives because of the concerns that it is violating basic human rights.

The law allows a man to demand sex with his wife every four days unless she is ill or would be harmed by intercourse. The law also restricts the movements of a married woman outside of her home.

The Toronto Star reports:

“Amendments will take place,” and the law “will not have any concerns on any account of human rights and especially the rights of the Afghan people,” Karzai told reporters at a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Later, Brown said he discussed the law with Karzai.

“I assure you that the laws of Afghanistan will be in complete harmony with the Constitution of Afghanistan and the human rights that we have adhered to in our constitution and in the principles of the international treaties,” Karzai said.

The wording of the existing law applies to the Shiites in the nation. They make up less than 20 per cent of the Afghan population.

Karzai has said that completion of the law review process will happen prior to May 21 when his term ends.

The Afghan constitution guarantees equality of the sexes. The nation is also a signer of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. The new law violates provisions of both documents.

President Karzai says that the controversial portions of the 239-page document were buried in theological jargon. He claims that when he was briefed on the document those details were not included in the briefing.

The changes to the newly passed bill should be made before voting time in August according to Sabrina Saqib, a legislator from Kabul who was in the meeting.

Car Wash Event To Donate To Help Car Wash Employees

Demi Moore’s standing behind the CLEAN (Community-Labor-Environmental Action Network) Carwash Campaign. The non-profit group is committed to improving the lives of working families in great Los Angeles. This project is to benefit car wash workers.

Car wash employees are often paid less than minimal wage and rely on tips to make ends met. The campaign is working jointly with the Carwash Workers Organizing Committee (CWOC) of the United Steelworkers to raise the standard of living for car wash workers and to address basic workplace safety issues.

According to their website CLEAN is committed to:

* Supporting the right of car wash workers to organize a union and bargain collectively.
* Improving working conditions and ensuring that car wash employers meet labor standards and abide by fair workplace practices.
* Demanding environmental clean up to ensure that waste water from car washes does not contaminate our rivers or oceans.

This campaign will not only help the workers but the environment as well. Professional car washes can contain toxic chemicals such as ammonium bifluoride and hydrofluoric acid that if not properly managed can be leaked into the environment. These toxins have been shown to cause kidney damage, increased cancer risk, and developmental delays.

The workers in professional car washes often work 60 hours a week with no overtime pay. Some make as little as $180 a week. They often work without the protective gear that costs as little as $3 enabling chemicals to seep into their bodies.

If you want to help out and are in the LA area the event is taking place on Tuesday afternoon.

Date: Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Time: 2:00pm – 4:00pm

Location: Vermont Hand Wash
Street: 1666 N. Vermont Ave.
City/Town:
Los Angeles, CA

WHO Upgrades Swine Flu To Phase Four Status

The World Health Organization has upgraded the swine flu outbreak to Phase Four. The Phase Four status means that there is sustained human to human transmission of disease.

It has now been determined by WHO that the swine flu has reached the level that human-to-human transmission is sufficient to sustain community-level outbreaks. Phase Four is short of calling the outbreak a pandemic. Phase 4 indicates a significant increase in risk of a pandemic but does not necessarily mean that a pandemic is a forgone conclusion.

The new Phasing calls for the countries that have been affected to contain the outbreak. The core focus at this stage is to stop the mitigation as much as possible.

CTV reports:

Phase 4 normally calls on affected countries to contain the outbreak. But WHO spokesperson Dr. Keiji Fukuda said that “given the current situation,” the the focus should be on mitigation.

“This virus has already spread quite far, so at this time containment is not a feasible option,” he said.

The following countries have confirmed cases of swine flu A:

* United States: 40
* Mexico: 26
* Canada: 6
* Spain: 1
* Scotland: 2

Since the initial outbreak in Mexico 1,995 people have been hospitalized in that country. Of those, 1,070 have recovered and have been released from hospital.

It is not clear why the United States was not aware of the deadly potential just across their own border. Mexico was already enacting protective measures a week prior.

The United States learned about the deaths caused by a rare strain of the flu until after Canadian officials did.

South California was already investigating milder cases of illness that in hindsight were related to the major outbreak in Mexico.

When Mexico realized that they were dealing with a new strain of flu they contacted Canada. A week ago Mexico sent swabs to the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg for detailed testing. Why samples were not sent to the CDC is clear, the Mexican authorities were on a time crunch and Canada has a different paperwork system in these cases.

The samples hit the lab in Winnipeg on Wednesday. Six hours later the first news that a new swine flu has been confirmed by testing.

The Washington Post reports:

The CDC, in Atlanta, is one of WHO’s four “reference laboratories” for flu. It routinely gets samples from Mexico and many other countries, and processes them with great urgency, Nancy J. Cox, the head of the flu lab, said last night. It, too, eventually received the Mexican samples.

“The only reason the samples went first to Winnipeg is because the paperwork is easier. We were in a rush,” Hernández said.

Mexico and Canada has had in recent years a close relationship when it comes to preparing for an pandemic.

Victoria, British Columbia Crowned Best City In Canada

Don’t tell the folks in Toronto but their town didn’t make it to the top ten places to live in Canada list just released by MoneySense. The top city honour goes to Victoria, British Columbia beating the long time list favorite Ottawa-Gatineau.

Toronto ranked a lowly 79th place.

So why did Toronto score so poorly? Our housing costs are way up at the top end of the spectrum. Out of 154 cities Toronto came in 141 on that one.

Toronto also has a higher unemployment rate than many other Canadian cities.

The good news though is Toronto is second when it comes to having people employed in the arts, culture, recreation and sports. Only those French guys in Quebec beat us there.

The top ten city list:

10. Brandon, Man.
9. Peterborough, Ont.
8. Winnipeg, Man.
7. Fredericton, N.B.
6. Moncton, N.B.
5. Vancouver, B.C.
4. Burlington, Ont.
3. Kingston, Ont.
2. Ottawa-Gatineau
1. Victoria

So what makes the top ten so great to live in? A combination of key factors like climate, housing, wealth and the arts are a few areas MoneySense looked at while composing their list.

So who was the winner in each category?

Climate

Rain/Snow Days: Okotoks, AB
Closest to 700mL/year for percipitation: Barrie, ON
Warm weather: Powell River, BC
Air quality: Squamish, BC

Housing
Lowest home prices: Bathurst, NB
Time-to-buy index: Baie-Coomeau, QC

Prosperity

Average household income: Wood Buffalo, AB
Household discretionary income: Calgary, AB
Unemployment rate: Estevan, SK
New cars on the road:Whitehorse, YK
Income tax: Yellowknife
Provincial sales tax: Whitehorse, YK

Lifestyle

Crime rate: Saint-Hyacinthe, QC
Walk or bike to work: Yellowknife
Doctors( per 1,000): Grand Falls-Windsor, NL
Health professionals:Portage la Prairie,MB
Transit use: Montreal and Toronto
Population Growth: Centre Wellington, ON

Buzz

Those living the arty dream: 1 Montreal
2Toronto

Mexico Hit by 5.6 Magnitude Earthquake

Mexico was rocked by an earthquake on Monday. The quake hit central Mexico with a magnitude of 5.6. It was centered by Chilpancingo, about 130 miles southwest of Mexico City or 50 miles from the resort of Acapulco.

Mexico already reeling from the swine flu is now having to deal with a strong earthquake in the central portion of the nation. The quake was strong enough to sway buildings in Mexico City.

According to Televisa television network Mexico City there are no reports yet of damage or injuries.

Deseret News reports:

“I’m scared,” said Sarai Luna Pajas, a 22-year-old social services worker standing outside her office building moments after it hit. “We Mexicans are not used to living with so much fear, but all that is happening — the economic crisis, the illnesses and now this — it feels like the Apocalypse.”

USGS earthquake analyst Don Blakeman said that the quake was felt in Mexico City is because the epicenter is shallow and the ground under the nation’s capital is built on a former lake bed. This can intensify shock waves.

The quake happened at around noon in Mexico.

Toronto Ready for Swine Flu If it Arrives

Canada Health is working closely with the provinces and territories and international partners to protect the health and safety of Canadians. There are a total of six cases of swine flu in Canada: four in Nova Scotia and two in British Columbia.

“We are not pushing panic buttons,” says City Councillor Joe Mihevc.

In a telephone interview with City Councillor Joe Mihevc this morning, Digital Journal learned that Toronto is in good shape in terms of being prepared for a swine flu outbreak. The public health and hospitals in the city are all on high alert. There have been no reported cases in Ontario.

Toronto learned what to do and what not to do during the SARS outbreak.

“We have learned a lot from SARS. We are now one of the global leaders when it comes to outbreak preparedness,” Mihevc said. “We are now tracking the issue. Because we have known that we are due a major flu hit and in fact expecting on Ontario has a stockpile of Tamiflu. “

Ontario is staying well informed and working with the CDC, WHO and Canada’s Center of Disease Control.

“Everything is in place. We have knew something like this was coming. We don’t know at this time if this is the ‘one’ but we are ready for it.”

So ready for it in fact that all of Toronto’s emergency service heads have been and are in meetings since the beginning of the outbreak in Mexico. On Monday the TTC will be meeting to discuss what to do in terms of the swine flu. The TTC is one of the few city transit departments that has a physician on retainer for these types of situations.

The TTC would be at the front lines of the swine flu if it does hit Toronto. Over a million and a half people use the service any given week.

Canada Health reports:

“The federal government will continue to monitor the situation closely to detect any illness as early as possible and ensure Canadians are protected. I have been in frequent contact with my counterparts in the provinces and territories. I’m having discussions regularly with our international partners, including the World Health Organization, officials from Health and Human Services in the United States, as well as the Mexican health minister,” said Minister Aglukkaq. “Although we are relieved to hear that the Canadians who have been diagnosed with swine influenza exhibited mild symptoms, we will remain vigilant and continue to monitor the situation closely.”

Health professionals in Ontario are on alert to screen patients for febrile respiratory illness and influenza like illness. All flu-like illnesses in patients that have a history of travel to Mexico or where a cluster of swine flu is to be reported to the local public health unit.

Patients that present with the about conditions should be given fit tested N95 respirators in clinical situations. Health care professionals are being advised to wear eye protection, gloves and gowns in dealing with such patients.

“Ontario is well-positioned to deal with this situation. We have a strong public health system in this province. I have the utmost confidence in the ability of public health professionals to manage any health issue that might arise.”
- David Caplan, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care

People returning from Mexico who have symptoms of respiratory illness should contact their health care provider or call TeleHealth Ontario at 1-866-797-0000.

CDC Briefs Media on Swine Influenza- Sunday April 26

Anne Schuchat, M.D, Interim Deputy Director for Science and Public Health Program answered questions from the media during the daily press conference on the swine influenza A. The United States is working aggressively to slow the growth of the disease.

Schuchat confirmed that one in the 20 confirmed cases in the United States has been hospitalized.

“We’re expecting the numbers to change quickly. The CDC will be updating the numbers on a daily basis. We do know that this is a human to human virus. Remember that the influenza virus is very unpredictable and because of that we are expecting many changes. We are not sure of the transmission pattern time wise of the virus yet.”

Because the swine flu has the same symptoms of so many other illnesses it is difficult to lock down a number at this point. The basic symptoms are; high fever, cough, muscle aches and stomach flu (diarrhea and vomiting).

There are now 20 confirmed cases in the United States. Those who traveled to Mexico do figure into that number. We do know that this virus is transmitted person to person to person. It can very well be spread in a school setting for instance as was the case in New York City.

Thus far the two newest flu medications are working well with those who have become ill.

The two cases in Kansas are a man and his wife. He got ill after returning from Mexico and his wife, who was not in Mexico, fell ill two days later.

WHO, the CDC, Mexico and Canada are all working together to slow the transmission of the virus. In Mexico the CDC is working on helping to ID those who are ill, examine the factors on how the virus is being transmitted, tackle lab issues so that the virus can be ID-ed more quickly and improve communication response.

The CDC will have different recommendations depending on each community. This information can and will be moving quickly. Public health departments are working within the clinical community to keep everyone informed of any new changes.

The best thing that the general public can do at this stage is to stay informed. If you are in an area with no disease still have basic good health care precautions such as hand washing and covering your mouth.

The main focus at this time for the CDC is to slow and limit the spread of the swine flu and the overall impact that this virus will have on the health community.

The CDC is now preparing yellow cards for border areas. There will not be extra screening at this time but that does not mean screening is not taking place. Screening happens for those who are ill at the borders at all times.

In Mexico there are 12 confirmed positive cases some of which were from fatalities. Schuchat reminded the media not to focus on the numbers at this time. The tests take time to process. The truth is there are many cases and it’s clear the disease is in several parts of the country, not only in Mexico but in the United States as well.

It is still not known why Mexico appears to have more severe cases than the United States. One explanation could be the numbers of ill already in Mexico. Schuchat said that the CDC does fear that the United States will be seeing deaths from the swine flu.

One theory to the reason that the cases in the United States and with the elderly are less severe could be previous exposure and immune protection.

We know that this virus can not be contained at the border. there is however a lot that can be done to slow the transmission down. Patients are being isolated in health care centers. The easiest way to slow the transmission of the disease though lays in the hands of the general public. Taking basic precautions when one is ill such as staying home or seeking medical care when needed is a good way to help slow the disease. Washing your hands, covering your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing and avoiding public places when ill will all be a part of slowing transmission down.

Another key step in being prepared is to know what you will do if next steps have to be taken. One example is if your child’s school is shut down have a plan in place for child care. Also inform yourself where to obtain local information about the swine flu in your community.

There were questions about the potential vaccine that is in the works and the vaccine that took place in 1976 where many became ill with other conditions after a mass vaccine program for swine flu. Schuchat said that there has been many advancements in vaccine production since 1976 and at this time that matter is a precautionary concern.

Everyday Precautions
1. Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

2. Stay home if you are ill.

3. Cover your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing.

4. Clean your hands often.

5. Avoid touching your eyes, hands or mouth.

6. Practice good health habits. Get plenty of sleep, be active, manage stress levels, drink plenty of fluids and eat healthy meals.

New website lets you gamble on meeting your goals

Half the battle of success is following through with your goals. A new site on the web Success…Or Else! is offering to be your personal motivational coach for a price if you fail. What is their take on the key to success? Punishment.

Using three simple steps Success..Or Else! aims to help people succeed at completing their personal goals.

Step one: Tell the site what you want to do and your deadline for that. The owners of the site will review your case and set a fine for incompleteness of your goal. They will also inform you of how to prove to them that you have accomplished your goal.

With the goal and potential fine set it’s time for the next step.

Step Two: It’s time to ante up the pot. You send the site money to hold until you have completed your task by your deadline. They will send you a nagging email once in a while to let you know how they will spend your money if you don’t finish your goal.

Step Three: If you have done your work you get your money back. If you have failed they laugh all the way to the bank.

The Management has announced that due to an influx of cash half of all money users lose will got to charity.

I signed up to get an interview with the founder, Sevaan Franks and was told I had to pay $20 if I didn’t meet a deadline by April 30, 2009.

If you don’t interview the Succeed or Else crew by April 30th, 2009, you lose $20! If you do get the interview, you get to keep your money and probably be short-listed for a Pulitzer. Think how good that will make you feel!

In order to prove that you interviewed us, I will require a URL to read the article online by no later than 12:00am on May 1st, 2009. Otherwise I will probably spend my $10 on lunch (the other $10 goes to charity…so even if you fail, you are still a success!)

In an email interview with owner Sevaan Franks of Toronto I got the scoop of where the idea to start this site came from.

What was your motivation for starting the site?

For the past few years, whenever I would chat with friends and they would tell me about a goal they had, or something they wanted to accomplish in a certain amount of time, I would immediately throw out a punishment. Something like, “Ok, if you don’t complete that screenplay, you owe me a big expensive dinner.” And occasionally I would have some takers, and more often than not, I wouldn’t. Out of those who took me up on it, most would accomplish their goal, and those that didn’t would take me out to dinner and then accomplish what they wanted to do. It’s sort of like negative reinforcement, as oppose to positive reinforcement that everyone talks about. Once they were punished for failing, they weren’t likely to do it again. One of my friends who decided not to take me up on it teasingly said “I’d rather give my money to a stranger than to you”. And then the thought of making it a website came to me like a light bulb going off in my head

Mind you, this was years ago. I have the same problem as most people I know where I talk about getting things done, but don’t actually follow-through. However, this year, one of my new years resolutions was to bring to life all the crazy business ideas and concepts that I come up with. So this is the first on the list. And to ensure that I would do it, I decided to put some money on the line myself. So just like the Hairclub for Men…not only am I president of Succeed…Or Else!, I’m also a client!

I had a bit of an epiphany earlier this week when I was sorting through some of the goal requests that were coming into the site. There are really people out there who need help and I realized that this site I set up, sort of as a lark, if I’m being honest, was actually helping people more than I initially thought. It’s touching to see the goals that people want to accomplish. There are the standards ones, such as losing weight, scoring high on tests or quitting smoking, then there are the ones that I just know people are embarrassed about slightly…that they can’t go to their friends for motivation. One guy wants to learn how to swim so he won’t be embarrassed at a holiday he is going to. Someone else wants to be a better husband to his wife. And another person wants to stop looking at adult websites. These are really personal goals. I feel privileged to hear about them.

Have people actually sent you money?

Yes. Not as many people have sent money as have sent in goals, but there have been a few people who have been serious enough about accomplishing their goals, and fed up enough with not having the motivation to, that have sent in money. I really believe in this concept of external motivation, and I think it’s going to work for them.

How much money have you kept and given back?

No money has been given back yet because none of the deadlines have been reached. But I’m sure they will get their money back. One person didn’t finish an essay in time, however, so I got to keep $40. I’m sure he’ll finish it next time now!

One issues everyone asks me about is proof, and how do I know when someone has accomplished their goal. I usually ask for something cursory, like a photo or testimony from a friend. And yes, I realize that any of these can be easily faked, but to be honest I’m not doing this to make the money. It’s out of a genuine interest in helping people. So really, if they want their money back, they will get it. I just hope they realize that the point of losing the money is to reinforce that failing is not okay. So I hope that if they didn’t genuinely accomplish their goal that they accept the loss and try again for another date.

What is the success rate for your clients?

It’s too early to tell. However, I did have one failure already. I think the real key will be whether he succeeds next time, knowing what it feels like to fail a goal and be punished for it. I will be following up with him.

How long as the web site been in place?

The website has only been online for a couple weeks! I starting making it and finished it on one Tuesday evening while watching TV, and by the next evening I already had 5,000 unique visitors. It’s the kind of idea that people talk about at the water cooler. It seems to market itself.

The feedback has been interesting too. The majority of people like it and say it’s something they wish they had thought of, or that it’s the funniest and cleverest business model they have ever seen (which gives me confidence for my other ideas!). However, some people hate it. I think because it’s so new and doesn’t have an established record many people are concerned (and rightly so, I guess) that it is a scam. I’ve received a few threats through the goal submission form too. People whose goals it is to hack my site by a certain date, or do bad things to me or even my family! Nothing serious, I’m sure.

As for the future, the site will be changing a lot in the coming months too, allowing users to better take control of their goals and respective punishments. I really think there is something to this idea of punishment motivation and negative reinforcement, and I have some interesting plans up my sleeves. We’ll see where it goes!

The concept is a good one, in fact I wish I had thought it up before Mr. Franks. I wish him success and success for his clients. And I did met my deadline before I had a chance to send my money in. Not bad for a day’s work.

The Mountain Equipment Co-Op is considering an Israel boycott

The resolution to boycott Israeli products at Mountain Equipment Co-op is expected to be proposed at the April 30 annual meeting. It is expected that members from British Vancouver Teachers for Peace and Global Education will introduce the motion.

The co-op screens the products that they sell to make sure that the workers are treated ethically.

B’nai Brith Canada expressed concern over reports of the motion, and said it was encouraged by the company’s official position that it does “not divide its supply chain along political lines” and will “not take sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” according to a news release.

The Calgary Herald reports:

“We just don’t think(MountainEquipmentCo-op)should be doing business with Israel until it changes its behaviour,” said Patrik Parkes, a spokes-man for BC Teachers for Peace and Global Education.

“Many of us are MEC members, and because MEC promotes itself as an ethical company, we believe their actions need to reflect that.”

On the MEC blog a posting deals with the fact that the company is being labeled a hypocrite for buying from China, Taiwan, US, India, Sri Lanka and just about everywhere else outside of Canada.

The company points out that the resolution to boycott Israeli suppliers is not being put forward by MEC or MEC employees. The resolution was table by members of MEC and will be voted on at the annual meeting.

Because the company is a co-op it must protect the right of members to participate in the co-op and allow for their views to be heard.

The company’s position is as follows:

MEC is a Co-op retailer with a mandate to get Canadians outdoor by selling them the right gear and giving them the relevant technical insight. MEC is neither a political activist group nor a human rights body. Nonetheless, we believe business can and should improve the human condition behind manufacturing. To this end, MEC takes a Canadian and international view of our global supply chain. Just as creed and country are not barriers to being an MEC member, we do not divide our supply chain along political lines. In short, we will not take sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Our human rights efforts are squarely focused on our supply chain—on working to improve the factory conditions and treatment of the workers that make MEC-brand products. As much as this is cowardice to some or a sell out to others, it is our conviction and our intent is to not veer from this belief.

An update on probable Swine Flu cases around the world

The latest news in about the swine flu shows that with higher surveillance globally, more cases are being investigated. There is also at least one report of a case in Spain earlier this year.

As Reuters reports:

The WHO declared the flu a “public health event of international concern.” WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan urged greater worldwide surveillance for any unusual outbreaks of influenza-like illness. “(We are) monitoring minute by minute the evolution of this problem across the whole country,” Mexican President Felipe Calderon said as health officials counted suspected infections in six states from the tropical south to the northern border.

There are now also 10 probable cases in New Zealand. The students have tested positive for the flu and had traveled to Mexico recently.

The Age reports:

“Ministry of Health officials advise me there is no guarantee these students have swine influenza, but they consider it likely,” NZ Health Minister Tony Ryall said in a statement.

In Asia, the government has started to quarantine those with symptoms of the flu. Some Asian countries have issued travel warnings for Mexico.

Some governments have increased their screening of pigs and pork imports from the Americas even though you can not get swine flu from eating cooked pork.

There are three people in Spain that are under observation in hospitals. They have all recently returned from Mexico.

An Israeli man, 26, has been hospitalized with symptoms of swine flu. The man was admitted to Laniado Hospital in Netanya on Sunday and isolated.

The Israeli Embassy in Mexico has canceled its annual Independence Day reception at the request of the Mexican government. The Mexican government is trying to avoid public meetings to help stop the spread of the disease.

In a report from The Pig Site dated Feb. 24, 2009 a case of swine flu infection was found almost by accident in a female pig worker in Spain. At that time it was not considered to be a concern.

Fortunately, these and similar swine influenza viruses that can infect humans have not yet met any of the criteria to cause a human pandemic. The true risk can only become clear if epidemiological investigations are combined with experimental research.

2 confirmed cases- Kansas of swine flu, 8-9 possible cases-NYC

There are new reports that swine flu has confirmed in Kansas. The Kansas Department of Health has confirmed two cases of the flu. In NYC there are 8 to 9 probable cases.

The New York City Department of Health commissioner Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH has said that there are eight to nine probable cases of swine flu at St. Francis Preparatory School in Queens.

Frieden told the public to seek medical attention if they have flu like symptoms and trouble breathing. If a person is mildly ill please use good judgment prior to going to the hospital. Emergency rooms in Queens are having huge turnouts of mildly ill patients that could be taken care of at home.

This strain of flu responds well to medication if started within 48 hours of onset.

Canada Working With Mexico About Swine Flu Around The Clock

Canadian researchers have been working around the clock since Wednesday night dealing with the Mexican Swine Flu outbreak. After SARS Canada is well prepared for a pandemic.

The alert about the possibility of a Swine Flu outbreak did not start in Mexico but in Canada according to one report. When a patient who had recently returned from Mexico was diagnosed with the illness that Canadian health officials believed was Swine Flu they alerted Mexican authorities.

That report may be a bit faulty. At this time according to Dr. Kamran M. Khan with St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto there are no confirmed swine flu patients in Canada.

That is not to say there are no patients being tested for the illness.

In Canada resources have been mobilized and are at the ready and working non-stop to combat what could become a pandemic.

The National Microbiology lab, located on Arlington Street in downtown Winnipeg has been a key component in rapidly getting test results out for health officials.

The Swine Flu virus that experts are working with is like none other before. It is an animal to human strain that is not working in the usual manner. Had the test samples not matched genetically at the Winnipeg lab the concern would not be as high as it is. They did match however and that means that the strain in Mexico is the same strain that was found in the United States.

In Mexico City all public events have been canceled to help contain the outbreak. This virus is a mix of human, pig and bird strains that has epidemiologists around the world deeply concerned.

CDC Briefs Media on Swine Influenza

The CDC Briefing on Public Health Investigation of Human Cases of Swine Influenza was held today at 1 pm Eastern time. CDC is working closely with health officials in California, Texas, Mexico, Canada and the World Health Organization.

At this time there are a total of 15 confirmed cases of swine flu in North America.

Background information

The swine flu does not normally infect humans. There is the one case in Wisconsin in 1988 resulted in multiple human infections, and, although no community outbreak resulted, there was antibody evidence of virus transmission from the patient to health care workers who had close contact with the patient.

Between December 2005 through February 2009 there were a total of 12 cases of human infection with swine influenza.

According to the CDC it takes time to have a true diagnosis of swine flu. To diagnose swine influenza A infection, a respiratory specimen would generally need to be collected within the first 4 to 5 days of illness (when an infected person is most likely to be shedding virus). However, some persons, especially children, may shed virus for 10 days or longer. Identification as a swine flu influenza A virus requires sending the specimen to CDC for laboratory testing.

A new vaccine is being worked on because the normal vaccines do not deal with the swine flu strains. The H1N1 swine flu viruses are antigenically very different from human H1N1 viruses and, therefore, vaccines for human seasonal flu would not provide protection from H1N1 swine flu viruses. Making a vaccine is quite complex. It takes months to make a new vaccine.

Schuchat says, “A new vaccine will not happen tomorrow.”

People with swine influenza virus infection should be considered potentially contagious as long as they are symptomatic and possible for up to 7 days following illness onset. Children, especially younger children, might potentially be contagious for longer periods.

All unsubtypable influenza A specimens at this time in the United States are being sent to the Viral Surveillance and Diagnostic Branch of the CDC’s Influenza Division for further diagnostic testing.

The Conference

Glen Nowak, media relations of the CDC introduced Anne Schuchat, M.D, Interim Deputy Director for Science and Public Health Program and Daniel Jernigan, M.D. Ph D. Medical Epidemiology, Influenza Division to the press. Dr. Schuchat took most of the questions and gave a brief update at the start of the conference.

“Starting with the general view. We are worried and acting aggressively. There is not a lot of new information about this illness. There are 8 confirmed cases in the United States.

Mexico is in a serious situation with severe disease and numbers of infection.

“At this time it is hard to predict the next step. We are very committed at the CDC with getting information out and shared as quickly as we can.”

The investigations in the United States are ongoing. State labs and the CDC are looking at a number of suspicious cases. At this time Mexico, Canada and the public health teams in Southern California and Texas as well as the CDC are working together.

The CDC has put up a new web page to deal with this situation.

“This is a time of uncertainty,” says Schuchat. “At this time the cases in the United States have been mild. That is not true in Mexico. We are taking action early.”

The CDC is not confirming where other investigations are ongoing saying that local public health departments are working on a case by case basis. Public health labs are trained in spotting new strains of influenza. When a new strain or untyped strain is found then it is sent to the CDC labs for more advanced testing.

Homeland Security has been informed and is working closely with the CDC on details that could take place.

While WHO has yet to upgrade the phase of this outbreak it is important to know that it does not change the direction that the CDC is heading. Public health departments are acting quite aggressively on this situation.

Schuchat stressed that it is always challenging to get the message out to the public. The CDC is worried. This is a very serious condition in the United States. Involved leaderships are aware of the severe situation and are dealing with it on a day to day manner. The trouble with the general flu is that it spreads easily. The CDC is looking into how easily this strain of the flu is spreading.

At this time the CDC is looking for clusters of severe disease in the United States. This can be problematic as the flu mimics many other illnesses. Because of this it can take time to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

It is not known why the Mexican cases have been more severe than the reported US cases. They may be co-factors in this. It may also be that Mexico has yet to tag less severe cases and the United States has yet to tag more severe cases.

The one thing to remember about the flu is that is does not act in a normal manner. Researchers can make predictions about what could happen and the flu virus may not act in the way that was predicted.

There are quite a number of cases being investigated in the United States at this time. The CDC is not able to give actual numbers nor locations of where those investigations are. The process of testing is rather complex. The first stage is at the hospital where a rapid test can tell if a person has the flu. The sample is then sent to the public health lab for more complex testing. It only is sent to the CDC if the strain is untypeable or in this case the new virus. For that reason the clear number of specimens being tested throughout the US is not known.

“What we know right now is that we can not contain the spread of this Swine flu,” says Schuchat. “We are not at a point to keep the virus in one place. It is likely that we will find it in more places.”

Two confirmed cases were investigated from the border patrol system. There are ongoing respiratory flu testing going on at the border of the United States and Mexico.

Mexico is just in the beginning stages of broad national surveillance.

In the United States a lot of work is happening within local public health departments. Bigger cities are rapidly preparing for the worse case scenario.

Jay Leno In Hospital, Tonight Show Taping Canceled

The Tonight Show has been canceled tonight after Jay Leno checked himself into the hospital. Leno left his offices midday to enter hospital for observation. Leno, who turns 59 on Tuesday, is expected to leave the show on May 29 after a 17 year run.
It has been speculated that Leno is suffering from food poisoning. Tracy St. Pierre of NBC said that she did not believe that was the case.

AP reports:

“Jay Leno is doing just fine,” read a statement from NBC spokeswoman Tracy St. Pierre. “He was kidding around with the hospital staff and running his monologue jokes by the doctors and the nurses. He’s expected back to work on Monday.”

It’s said that Leno is writing jokes from his hospital bed. Dick Guttman, Leno’s spokesman said that Leno left his office for Providence St. Joseph Medical Center. Guttman described Leno’s condition as ‘mild.’

Guests for tonight’s show were Ryan Reynolds, Jules Sylvester and swing band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. NBC will be running a rerun instead tonight.

‘Streets to Homes’ Makes Huge Impact for Toronto Homeless

When it comes to the homeless one program in Toronto appears to be working. Streets to Homes is an award winning program started in Toronto. Since it being in early 2005 more than 2,400 homeless people have found permanent housing.
Clients are saying that having a home of their own has changed their lives. They also say that they are using less alcohol and drugs now that they are off the streets. What is most amazing almost 91 per cent of those who have been placed in housing remain in housing. The program has a zero waiting list allowing them to help people quickly leave the street and enter into a home of their own according to Pat Anderson of the Toronto City housing department.

Research has shown that the those who are in the Streets to Homes Program are less likely to use costly emergency services in Toronto. Not only does this benefit the city but the cost impact is shared by the Province and the Federal government.

Housing officials are able to take the success of the program and leverage it with the provisional government for more funding.

The idea of the program is to bypass shelters or transitional housing and put the homeless straight into their own apartment. So far 2,400 have been placed in a home of their own according to Pat Anderson.

Not only does the program help the homeless have a place to sleep their health, mental health, food quality, sleeping, personal safety and social interaction has improved in the majority of cases.

An important component of the enhanced service is a single phone number for the public for those who are street involved in the downtown core. The staff is then able to direct the person to the right social service approach that is needed.

The program is operated by City staff with partnerships with 25 community non-for-profit agencies. The program was one of the finalists for the 2007/08 World Habitat Awards.

Toronto.ca reports:

“Streets to Homes is helping us to end street homelessness,” said Mayor David Miller. “It is making Toronto a more inclusive city, and the world is taking notice. This recognition is a tribute to both City staff and our community partners, who have worked together tirelessly and seamlessly to help some of our most vulnerable citizens.”

The model of Streets to Homes in use today is enhanced built from the 2007 Pilot Project. During the first 12 weeks of the 63 per cent of those who were panhandling stopped this practice.

The staff of Streets to Homes are down in the trenches. They engage with as many homeless people as they can. Not every homeless person is visible, some live in the ravines that most don’t venture into. The program helps not just the homeless but anyone who is ’street involved.’ That includes people residing in shelters, homeless and those who have legal housing but panhandle.

“We are not telling people not to give or to give when it comes to panhandlers. What the city does believe in is directing people to social service response programs.”- Pat Anderson

The front-line workers work 24 hours a day in the winter and the summer with outreach programs. They have a mobile service that hits every part of Toronto. The program is in operation from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. seven days a week during the fall and spring. There are currently 39 front-line City staff in the program, up from the 10 staff at the beginning of the program.

A recent study by the Ontario Association of Food Banks also found that the cost of
poverty in Ontario related to increased health care costs, crime and lost productivity was
$32 billion to $38 billion a year – the equivalent of 5.5 per cent to 6.6 per cent of
provincial GDP.

Once a person is in housing the average daily follow-up costs the city of Toronto a mere $10 combined with their housing costs total an average between $22 to $41 per day.

Those who wish to help can volunteer for the program. Ms. Anderson said that one program has volunteers going to apartment buildings that have several clients in them and setting up bingo nights and spaghetti dinners.

Opinion: It’s Scary When Mike Tyson Makes Sense

Hold onto your hats, Mike Tyson’s girlfriend wants him to perform on ‘Dancing with the Stars.’ You read that right, she wants the man who bit off a guy’s ear to get down and dirty on the dance floor. Pardon me as I faint.
Okay, world there has to be a limit to what is on the reality television screen.

Never mind as I remind myself that we watched Paris Hilton look for a BFF not only in the US but in England too. (Yes, I have watched the show. It’s great mindless guilty pleasure when you’re sick in bed.)

Will we as a public watch anything as long as someone famous is on the stage? Do we really want to know who is the next American Scream Queen or that a model can have mega brains?

Right now the world is loving Susan Boyle on Britain’s Got Talent but is that a reason to watch all the talent shows in the land? Oh wait a second, sorry Adam Lambert I wasn’t dissing your show.

But come on do we really need to know how many women Gene Simmons has bedded, the adventures of Spencer and Heidi, if Bruce Jenner’s step kids are just brats or if Tommy Lee can study?

There’s so many more to choose from. Reality television is all that seems to be on some days. You can watch an intervention, swapping wives and nannies that save the day.

Do we really need more reality in our lives? Don’t we have enough in the process of just living?

What is the scariest thing to deal with is that Mike Tyson made a comment that actually made sense as VH1 reports:

“This stuff can pollute your mind,” he said. “I don’t care what level of intellect you have. This stuff can rot in your mind.”

And he told MTV that he often asks his girlfriend, “You allow these people to invade your mind? You don’t know these people! How do you hate this person? You don’t know this person!”

You know it’s bad if even Tyson is questioning it.

I will now swear off reality TV. Well maybe in a month or two. I have to watch Adam be crowned the next American Idol after all!

22 militants suspects arrested in Bangladesh

Twenty-one suspected militants are being held in Bangladesh. Security forces arrested the group, most of whom are women in Barisal district raid.
The Rapid Action Battalion arrested the 21 women and 1 man while they were holding a meeting.

All of the women were wearing burqa.

World Latest News reports:

“We were closely monitoring their movements since long and it seemed to us that there is something suspicious so we’ve nabbed them,” Rashid said.

The suspects have denied any wrong doing stating they had gathered to discuss Islamic books.

Security measures have been tighten after the United Nations Children’s Fund, World Food Program and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Barisal were sent death threats in the mail on Monday. The posts were sent in the name of Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), a banned Islamist group.

Online Newspaper Readership Grows

As the print news industry suffers online news has grown. Websites that American newspapers operate attracted more than 73.3 million unique users a month in the first three months of this year.

Online newspaper readers average more than 3.5 billion page views per month so far this year. This is an increase of 13 percent over the same period last year.

The one problem that newspapers are dealing with though is keeping advertising revenues up to deal with the increased digital need.

Advertisers aren’t willing to pay premium prices online that they have in the past for print editions.

Losses in ad revenues is the chief reason that so many newspapers have folded in recent months.

Morning Sickness Makes For Brighter Kids

That morning sickness you are dealing with may be cause to celebrate. Researchers at the Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto say that morning sickness could make for brighter kids.
A new study appearing in The Journal of Pediatrics shows that that queasy feeling enhances children’s long-term neurodevelopment.

This is the first study that assesses the direct impact of morning sickness on children’s neurodevelopment. Past studies have suggested that there are benefits to morning sickness but the long-term effects for children had not been investigated before.

Sick Kids reports:

“Our findings suggest an association between NVP and improved neurodevelopment in the offspring,” says Dr. Irena Nulman, lead author of the study. “NVP is a widespread and puzzling physiological phenomenon that has yet to be sufficiently studied,” adds Nulman, Associate Director of the Motherisk Program, SickKids Associate Scientist and staff physician in SickKids Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, and Associate Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Toronto.

The participants of the study were recruited using the Motherisk’s NVP hotline database. The researchers used 121 women who called the hotline from 1998 to 2003. The participants were spilt into three groups of mother-child pairs: mothers who experienced morning sickness and were treated with diclectin (a drug used to treat nausea and vomiting during pregnancy); those who experienced morning sickness and did not take diclectin; and those who did not experience morning sickness.

The children aged three to seven were then given standardized age-appropirate tests to measure their intelligence and behaviour. Other outside factors were figured into the study including mother’s IQ, number of cigarettes smoked per day, alcohol consumption and socioeconomic status.

The findings showed that all of the children in the three groups had normal ranges for neurodevelopmental outcome. What was surprising though was that children whose mothers had morning sickness scored higher on performance IQ, verbal fluency, phonological processing and numerical memory. The use of diclectin did not make a difference in the intelligence of the children. The severity of morning sickness did make a difference along with maternal IQ.

Sick Kids reports:

“The results from this study emphasize the need for further scientific investigation into the physiological basis of NVP, in order to provide safer management and more successful pregnancy outcomes in the future,” says Dr. Gideon Koren, principal investigator of the study, Director of the Motherisk Program, Senior Scientist at SickKids and Professor of Paediatrics, Pharmacology, Pharmacy and Medical Genetics at the University of Toronto.

Sick Kid’s Hospital Researchers Find Gene That Causes XMEA

Researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) Research Institute have found the gene that causes X-linked myopathy with excessive autophagy (XMEA).
Scientists studied the component in the cell called an autophagosome. This component breaks down the materials within a cell that are to be recycled. An enzyme called V-ATPase is in charge of making the acid that is needed. There are a total of 14 components that fit together in order to function. A protein called VMA21 puts all the parts together. The researchers have found the gene that encodes VMA21.

Humans have to have VMA21 to survive. Some people have mutations in the gene that codes for VMA21 that reduce the levels of the protein without eliminating it completely. While people with the mutations can make the acid-making device it’s not made in qualities that are sufficient.

Because there are fewer acid-making devices there is less acid in the autophagosomes. When this happens the cells go on a major fast. The patient with the mutations start to live in near-starvation mode to survive.

While most organs are able to survive this loss the muscles cannot cope. This results in muscles that waste away and muscular dystrophy.

Sick Kids reports:

“To cure XMEA, we are looking for ways to increase the acidity of the autophagosomes,” says Dr. Berge Minassian, SickKids neurologist and Scientist, Associate Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Toronto and Canada Research Chair in Pediatric Neurogenetics. “As well, we hope to uncover the precise mechanisms in other vacuolar diseases – diseases whose cause is currently unknown and are characterized by expanded debris-containing structures.”

“This is a groundbreaking discovery that we hope will lead to finding a cure for XMEA and other forms of muscular dystrophy,” says Dr. Berge Minassian.

At this time there are 24 authors and 10 institutions in six countries, France, Japan, Finland, Italy, United States and Canada, working on this research.

Jim Carrey Speaks Out Against Vaccines

Jim Carrey and his partner Jenny McCarthy have become advocates for autism since her son was diagnosed with the condition. They have focused on the MMR vaccine as a cause of autism and warn parents to be cautious about vaccines.
Carrey recently responded to a commentary by CNN’s Campbell Brown on the vaccine issue. A ’special vaccine court’ saying the Measles, Mumps, Rubella shot wasn’t found to be responsible for the plaintiffs’ autism and therefore the vaccine is safe. The case examined three out of 5,000 cases addressing the possibilty that the MMR vaccine caused autism.

Carrey likens the case to the tobacco industry. Using only three cases as the means to say that the vaccine is safe does not mean that it is. It would be like saying that three smokers didn’t get lung cancer so don’t worry about the effects of cigarette smoking on your health.

At this time there are 36 vaccines that are on the current childhood schedule. The only studies that have been released and considered by the government are by those who make a profit from these vaccines.

If we believe the testing all vaccines are safe. If we dig deeper there have been cases such as the Hannah Polling and Bailey Banks cases were the direct link to autism was the vaccines. Does this mean that all vaccines are then unsafe?

Such broad statements are not sensible nor are they logical. The truth is in some cases vaccines may be a cause of autism or other complications. That does not mean that vaccines should not be used. It does mean that some cautions should be addressed though.

There has been an increase of autism and other behaviour disorders in children like Aspergers, ADD and ADHD. It is possible that the toxins that are in vaccines could have a part in this. It is logical considering science has shown that toxins may have a part in the growing problem.

The drug companies make money with their vaccines. In the United States children undergo many more vaccines than in any other nation in the world.

Carrey quotes the August 21, 2000 a congressional investigation’s report titled, “Conflicts in Vaccine Policy”:

It has become clear over the course of this investigation that the VRBPAC and the ACIP [the two main advisory boards that determine the vaccine schedule] are dominated by individuals with close working relationships with the vaccine producers. This was never the intent of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which requires that a diversity of views be represented on advisory committees.

Could the increased vaccine policy be behind Minnesota’s reporting of 1 in 80 children having autism?

Not even Carrey questions the good of vaccines. Without the polio vaccine we would still be dealing with the disease.

There are still issues though if every child needs each and every vaccine that the government says that they do.

As a parent would you give your child aluminum, mercury, ether, formaldehyde and anti-freeze? When your child is vaccinated they are exposed to these ingredients that are used to preserve and enhance vaccines.

Shouldn’t the information on the safety of vaccines include those that are not from the companies that profit from each shot that a child or teen has to protect them from diseases?

While it is important to protect your children from disease it is also just as important to understand that there are certain risks that come from the vaccines. More research is needed by outside parties to ensure that the public is not taking a chance without knowledge.

Shark left on newspaper office doorstep

Why was a live shark left outside an office in Canberra? That’s a question the police would like to have answered as they investigate the Port Jackson shark left in front of a newspaper office.
The shark was still alive when the police got to the scene Thursday. The juvenile Port Jackson shark was about 2 feet long. Once the authorities poured some water on it the animal kicked around for a bit.

Reuters reports:

“I walked over to McDonalds and borrowed a bucket off them and filled it up with water, and we picked the shark up and put it inside it and then drove it down to the breakwater and released it back into the water,” he said.

Perhaps one of the journalists in the office had upset a source? The police are clueless as to the animal’s arrival at The Standard’s door.

Chief of staff Glen Bernoth is equally confused as to why the shark was there. He learned of the surprise guest in a middle-of-the-night call from a friend who had heard about it on his police scanner.

Strait Times reports:

‘Naturally, I assumed it was like some sort of prank or something, but I’d been asleep for a couple hours,’ Mr Bernoth said with a laugh on Thursday.

The shark has been taken back to the water and freed. Kindhearted police had used a borrowed bucket from the McDonald’s next door to put the animal in for it’s ride home to the sea.

ABC reports:

“If we can locate the person that’s dumped it, then they’ll be charged with cruelty to animals,” he said.

Constable Dwyer says he is at a loss as to why the shark was left at the town’s newspaper.

“They had no ideas of any person that wished them any harm or wished to send them any type of message, so we’re a little dumbfounded at this stage,” he said.

Missing vials from Fort Detrick, thought to have been destroyed

3 vials of a dangerous virus are missing from Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland. The Army’s Criminal Investigation Command agents who are investigating the incident say that they have found no evidence of any criminal activity.
The vials contain samples of Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis, a virus that sickens horses and can be spread to humans by mosquitoes. Most humans that come down with the virus have flu-like symptoms. In 1 out of every 100 cases though the virus is lethal. The disease has a vaccine and there has not been an outbreak since 1971 in the United States.

The missing vials had been among thousands that were under the control of a senior scientist who retired 5 years ago. They were discovered missing when another Fort Detrick scientist recently inventoried the biological samples. The records of the missing vials were part of an inventory that were hand written.

Several years ago a freezer full of biological samples at the lab broke down and all of the samples were safely disposed of. At that time a complete inventory of those samples was not taken. There is a strong chance that the missing vials were in that freezer according to lab spokesperson Caree Vander Linden.

The retired scientist and another former Fort Detrick researcher worked with the agents investigating the missing vials.

Free Internet Press reports that the scientist, Alan Schmaljohn, now a professor at the University of Maryland had been questioned about the vials.

“They caught me on my cellphone on the road, and I stopped and talked to them for quite a long time,” Schmaljohn said in an interview. “She was just going down this whole list of questions, including, ‘Did you take it?’”

“The number of vials is utterly meaningless,” said Schmaljohn. “Three vials missing is no indication of any evildoing. … It’s almost equivalent to saying you’re missing 3 cents out of the national budget. …

“From the scientist’s point of view, it is inconsequential, but from the regulator’s point of view, it is an indication of sloppiness, and they are finally going to take rugged action.”

The investigation is in its final stages and should be closed soon.

The lab is the same one that the Federal Bureau of Investigation implicated former USAMRIID researcher Bruce Ivins in the 2001 anthrax letter attacks.

Does violence in the workplace worry you?

If you can hold onto your job, should you be worried about that co-worker who didn’t? With headlines screaming about workplace violence some say they do worry.
Considering the news lately that has shown a violent wave of mass murders in the United States that worry may be well founded. Reports of multiple killings have spanned North America during this recession. Some companies have followed former employees because they fear what their actions will be.

Shanghai Daily reports:

“Tough times will cause people to do crazy things,” said Kenneth Springer, whose company Corporate Resolutions Inc did the surveillance. “People are taking more precautions.”

Does this increased violence mean that workers take up karate or another means of protecting themselves? For the health benefit it’s not a bad idea but for safety in the workplace it may not be needed. Karate chops still don’t stop a bullet. Being aware though of negative feelings of co-workers may though be an indicator of danger.

AOL.ca reports:

“People aren’t mushrooms sitting in a dark closet by themselves and all of a sudden one day explode,” Cawood said. “If you listen and observe what they’re actually doing and saying, they’re communicating.”

James Cawood, a security expert says he has been doing more training now than in recent years.

“People are flat out concerned,” said James Cawood, a security expert and author of “Violence Assessment and Intervention: the Practitioner’s Handbook.”

“People who are staying in companies where there has been significant downsizing … are worried at every level. Even in down economic times, I’m doing more training now than I’ve done in years.”

The pressures from job losses and economic hardship may be the reason behind the violent incidents in the news lately.

Workplace Violence News reports:

“Most of these mass killings are precipitated by some catastrophic loss, and when the economy goes south, there are simply more of these losses,” says Jack Levin, a noted criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston.

Experts say that you shouldn’t worry about everyone who loses their jobs turning into a mass murderer. Though some former co-workers could be suspect if they have already had mental and anger problems in the past.

Canoe reports Richard Earle, director of the Canadian Institute of Stress, said uncertainty — like that caused by economic chaos and job loss — is the main factor in stress elevation.

“Humans respond to uncertainty very badly,” said Earle. “Under high stress, people always catastrophize.”

Those who have gone on to commit acts of violence tend to have said they would before they do.

It’s safest to not fear your workplace. Fear is one of the key elements that can make matters worse according to Joel Shults, head of public safety at Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado.

“It makes it hard to tell ourselves that we’re safe because they seem like such ordinary people in such ordinary circumstances,” Shults said. “It’s hard for us to tell ourselves, no, that’s not going to happen us.”

Ironically, he added, a heightened sense of fear can make matters worse. “That might potentially actually increase the number of people snapping. It’s one more thing to worry about,” he said

Two Canadian diplomats have been freed in Mali

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Mali officials say that two Canadian diplomats held hostage by African militants were released on Wednesday. The two were held captive for four months.
Robert Fowler and Louis Guay have been freed according to Seydou Cissouma, a spokesman for Mali’s president. The Canadian government has yet to confirm the release.

The Toronto Star reports that officials in the Foreign Affairs department urge caution and that they are still working to confirm the news about the releases.

“We are aware of these media reports and have no comment at this time. We continue to request good judgment and caution in reporting on a situation where lives may be at risk,” the official said in an e-mail to news organizations.

Fowler is a special UN envoy to Niger. He was once the Canadian ambassador to Italy.

Guay is Fowler’s assistant.

There are also reports that a German woman and a French woman were also released.

Fowler and Guay were abducted on December 14 with their driver Soumana Moukaila in Niger on route to look at a gold mine. Their vehicle was found later the same day about 40 kilometres of Niger’s capital, Niamey.

Moukaila was released last month.

The kidnapping have been claimed by Al-Qaeda’s north African branch. The group, known as AQMI said that they are also holding four European tourists since January.

While there were no demands for the release of those held the group was requesting and had received ransoms.

The Toronto Star quotes Fowler’s relative New Brunswick Liberal MP Dominic Leblanc:

“Obviously it’s been, since the 14th of December, a very, very difficult time for the Fowler family. They were hoping to have spent Christmas in Florida as a family when Bob went missing,” Leblanc said.

“From that point forward, every day and every night has been a source of concern for Mr. Fowler, for his wife Mary, for his children, so we’re very hopeful that in fact as soon as this news is confirmed it will be a very, very important celebration for the Fowler family.”

It has been confirmed that the Canadians are free.

Globe and Mail reports:

“I have spoken to members of Bob’s family…They are obviously very encouraged by the information that they’ve been given,” said Mr. Leblanc.

“Our understanding is that Bob is on his way to Bamako, Mali, and obviously until the Canadian government physically sees him, until they’re able to be in personal contact with Bob, they’re not going to confirm. But the family is certainly very enthusiastic about the news that they’ve been given and I know that they’re looking forward to hopefully reuniting with Bob in the coming days.”

Ford Donates $20 For Each Test Drive to Race for the Cure

For 15 years Ford has been working with the Susan G. Komen for the Cure charity. This year they are donating $20 for each Ford, Mercury or Lincoln that is test driven at a Ford dealership, up to $1 million.
Many dealerships are also pitching in an additional $20 up to $1,000.

Ford is the exclusive automobile manufacturer of the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and a valued corporate partner.

Those who wish to participate are asked to present a test drive certificate available for download at fordcares.com and at Race for the Cure events across the country.

At the Ford Cares site you can also purchase apparel and accessories dedicated to the fight against breast cancer.

Ford Cares was launched in 2003 as part of the Warriors in Pink initiative. One hundred percent of the net proceeds for the sale of items goes to Komen.

If you want your ride to show that you are a Warrior in Pink, Ford offers a limited edition 2009 Mustang with a Warriors in Pink package. The package is available on V-6 Premium Coupe and Convertible models and on three body colors. Your ride will sport a unique grill with a pink ribbon and pony fender badge, pink Mustang rocker tape striping, charcoal leather seats, an aluminum-spoke steering wheel and charcoal floor mats, all with pink contrast stitching. Each of these Mustangs sold will also come with a donation by Ford of $500 for Komen.

To date Ford has given back to the Race for the Cure more than $5.5 million.

For members of Facebook there is a Susan G. Komen for the Cure® group.

Freddie Mac’s acting CFO found dead

The acting chief financial officer of Freddie Mac was found dead Wednesday morning from what initial reports say was a suicide.
David Kellermann, 41, was found home in Northern Virginia.

Kellermann was named acting chief financial officer last September after Anthony Piszel stepped down during the Sept. 2008 government takeover.

Kellermann was responsible for company’s financial controls, financial reporting and oversight of the company’s budget and financial planning.

He had been with Freddie Mac for the last 16 years.

Neighbours are saying that the stresses of the new postion were visible. Kellermann had lost weight since taking the reins in September.

AP reports:

Paul Unger, who lives across the street from the Kellermanns, called the family a “solid, salt-of-the-earth kind of family” that hosted the neighborhood’s Halloween party. “He was just a nice guy … You cannot imagine what kind of pressures he must have been under,” Unger said.

It has been reported that Kellermann’s body was found in the basement of his home that he shared with his wife Donna and five-year-old daughter Grace.

AP reports:

John Koskinen, the company’s interim chief executive, said in a statement that Kellermann, “was a man of great talents …. His extraordinary work ethic and integrity inspired all who worked with him.”

American doctor claims to have cloned human embryos

Doctor Panayiotis Zavos attempted to clone the world’s first human baby. He says he cloned 14 embryos and then transferred 11 of those into four women. None of the attempts resulted into a viable pregnancy.
Cloning human embryos for transfer into a human womb is illegal in most of the world. It is believed that Dr. Zavos, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Cyprus, did the work at a Middle Eastern lab.

The embryos were made from blood cells of a dead 9-year-old named Cody. The child died in a car accident and her relatives asked the doctor to use her blood cells for cloning.

Zavos has in the past used skin cells to clone embryos.

The patients are three married couples and one single woman. They are from Britain, the United States and somewhere in the Middle East.

He told the Independent:

“There is absolutely no way that it will not happen. “If we intensify our efforts we can have a cloned baby within a year or two, but I don’t know whether we can intensify our efforts to that extent.”

The procedures were captured on film by a documentary film maker. Director Peter Williams verified that the women knew that they were having cloned embryos inserted. The film was made for the Discovery Channel and will be aired today.

The ethics of cloned humans is just one reason that cloning has been taboo. Another aspect is that cloned animals have led to early deaths and abnormalities.

In 2004 Dr. Zavos said that he had used skin cells from an infertile man for cloning and transferred that embryo into the man’s wife. He admitted later that experiment failed.

The Independent reports:

“I get enquiries every day. To date we have had over 100 enquiries and every enquiry is serious. The criteria is that they have to consider human reproductive cloning as the only option available to them after they have exhausted everything else,” Dr Zavos said. “We are not interested in cloning the Michael Jordans and the Michael Jacksons of this world. The rich and the famous don’t participate in this.”

Trainer: Jessica Biel a natural at stripping

According to exotic dance trainer Cati Jean, if Jessica Biel’s film career dries up she could take up dancing with no problem.
Trainer Jean worked with the actress to prepare for the film Powder Blue. There will be a very limited release on May 8 before the film comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray on May 26.

Times of India reports:

“Jessica is so good and so focused. She has the beauty element, she has the body – she has all the package that you want in a professional dancer,” the Sun quoted Jean as saying.“She could be a professional dancer if she wanted to. She is strong, she is flexible. She has everything,” she added.

Jessica gets down and dirty in the film that also stars Forest Whitaker and Patrick Swayze.

The film features some well-known talent but the word out is that the main draw of the film is that Biel strips.

Abdul Loves Idol, Contract Being Up Isn’t a Concern

Paula Abdul’s contract is up at the end of this season but she isn’t worried about being asked to come back next season to American Idol.
Abdul said in a Nightline interview that will air on Thursday that she loves the show and her part as a panelist on it.

E! Weekly reports:

Abdul says, “I don’t think anyone [can]…. Whenever there is change it’s not about replacing anybody; it’s about possibly moving on.”

Paula learned that there would be a fourth judge this year as she headed to the airport in August for this season’s try-outs.

Strait Times reports:

‘I thought that respectfully all of us as a group, maybe we could even figure this out together and I was surprised because Simon has always been against the fourth. We’ve had guest judges come in before and he banned that from happening anymore,’ she said

Songwriters Workshop SongStudio Coming To Toronto In July

In July a week-long workshop for songwriters will take place in Toronto. SongStudio is the creation of Rik Emmett and Blair Packham two of Toronto’s best songwriters.
During the week students will be spending one-on-one time with faculty and having the chance to meet with some of the industry’s top names. The event will be held on the campus of Ryerson University. The workshop is for anyone who wishes to improve their songs and is for songwriters of all levels.

Blair Packham is the program director. He is in charge of designing and implementing content of the workshop. Packham has been writing songs since he was 17. He was part of Toronto’s The Jitters and recorded two albums for Capitol-EMI Music of Canada with the band. Since that time Packham has spent his time in the industry working behind the scenes with themes and scores for broadcasters such as TSN, Global Television, Discovery Channel, CBC Newsworld, TVO, CTV and others.

Since the 1990’s Packham has been involved with the Songwriters Association of Canada. An advocate for the rights and privileges of songwriters Packham has worked to foster more education for songwriters. He currently teaches songwriting at Humber College and Seneca College. He is also a co-host for the weekly Toronto music radio show ‘Rock Talk.’

Emmett and Packham have been running the event since 2005. Some of the alumni have gone on to release their own recordings, perform and tour. One special stand out is Justin Nozuka who was a nominee for Best New Artist at the 2007 Juno Awards.

The cost for the week is $750.

I had the opportunity to interview Blair about the workshop.

KJ: Why did you want to do SongStudio in the beginning?

Blair: Rik Emmett was teaching courses in the music business industry at Humber in 2005 and the facility approached him about doing a summer program. He asked me to work on it. It has run for the past four summers but the school wasn’t making money at it. This summer with the school’s blessing we’re running it ourselves as an independent program.

KJ:How many students are you planning on having this year?

Blair: We’re hoping to have roughly 50 students. That has been in the number range the past years. With 50 to 55 students we have the staff. If we get more students we will increase the staff and have to get more classroom space from Ryerson. Spots are open until the day before but after June 1 the cost does increase to $850. We’re expecting many returns. One of those who has been in the workshop for years saw me last night and said “I just go to hang out with so many friends and talented people.” And that is how we feel also, many of those who have been in the workshop in the past are now friends.

Even in spite of the economy the workshop is the deal of the century. The amount of talent that students have a chance to be with is just incredible.

KJ: Have you had a ‘wow’ moment during past workshops?

Blair: Oh my goodness! Over and over! One is when Justin Nozuka first attended the first year. We just were wowed by his voice and musical ability. His songwriting was okay but needed some work. The wow effect was even stronger though when he came back to visit and performed. He was and is just amazing.

Another wow moment was with a student named Christian Caldeira. He has an incredible voice. I haven’t seen him since but he was definitely a wow moment.

KJ: With everything that you are involved with how do you find the time to plan out the workshops?

Blair: We have a rough template of how the workshop will be. The first year was the most difficult because there was no template in place. But it is very time consuming. It’s hard for me to even find time to talk on the phone or watch TV. What’s the hardest for me is the lack of time to compose songs. That really hits me when I play a gig. I have though managed to steal some time and have written three new songs. I find that I have to steal time to do everything.

KJ: What is your advice to budding songwriters?

Blair: There is only one right reason to be a songwriter and that is because you love it. An artist is asked to do music they don’t like or write something they don’t want.

You need to remember why you write. It’s an act of communication not just for yourself but also for your audience. They are who come to hear you play, hopefully. You want to be able to connect your feelings to them. Simple things to remember are not to make your songs too long and have a memorable melody. But the most important is to remember that communication factor. You want people to listen so you have to give your audience a song that they can feel and connect with. Your song has to be responsive and be interesting.

FBI Adds Animal Rights Activist To Most Wanted Terrorist List

The FBI has added animal rights activist Daniel Andreas San Diego to their list of “Most Wanted Terrorists” on Tuesday.
Daniel Andreas San Diego, 31, was added to the list for his part in the bombings of two Bay Area biotech firms. San Diego was a computer specialist before he went on the run.

San Diego has eluded law enforcement for almost six years. The hope is that by placing him on the list with a reminder that there is a $250,000 reward a capture will take place sooner. This is also a sign that the FBI is taking ‘domestic terrorism’ as seriously as it does threats from outside of the US.

Mercury News reports:

“Mr. San Diego and those like him are every bit as great a threat to the peace and security of the United States as any foreign terrorist,” said Special Agent in Charge Charlene Thornton of the FBI’s San Francisco office.

San Diego joins Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri on the FBI’s list. He is only the second American citizen to be placed on the FBI’s terrorist list.

CBC reports:

“Nominations to our Top 10 or our top terrorist lists is a well thought out process. We ran this investigation for the past almost six years where the leads have gone stale on us,” Michael Heimbach, FBI assistant director of the counterterrorism division, said in a news conference. “So now we’re seeking the public’s awareness, the public’s assistance to see if we can flush out additional leads.”

San Diego has been linked to bombs that exploded at the offices of Chiron in Emeryville on Aug. 28, 2003, and Shaklee in Pleasanton on Sept. 26, 2003.

The FBI had San Diego under 24-hour surveillance but he managed to lose his tails. The agency believes that he is now underground using a network of fellow activists to stay hidden.

According to the FBI flyer on San Diego he follows a vegan diet. He has worked in the past as a computer network specialist and with the operating system LINUX.

San Diego has several tattoos:a round image of burning hillsides in the center of his chest with the words “It only takes a spark” printed in a semicircle below; burning and collapsing buildings on the sides of his abdomen and back; and a single leafless tree rising from a road in the center of his lower back. It is thought that those tattoos may have been removed or covered with newer ones.

The site says that he should be considered armed and dangerous.

Canadians watched 3.1 billion videos online in February

One of the leaders in measuring the digital world, comScore released their findings on the Canadian online video market based on findings from February 2009 comScore Video Metrix data.
In February, 21 million Canadians viewed more than 3.1 billion videos online. The average Canadian spent 10 hours in front of their monitors watching videos during that month. This figure is up 53 per cent over last year.

“Canada’s high broadband penetration and tech savvy Internet users make it an optimal environment for online video to flourish,” said Bryan Segal, vice president of sales, comScore Canada. “The combined forces of reach, high engagement and ‘sight, sound and motion’ make online video a particularly attractive brand-building vehicle for online advertisers.”

Google Sites ranks first place for Canadian online video consumption with 1,625,244 hits. Other sites fell far below the hit volume of Google.

In order, the top ten video sites that Canadians tuned into are:

Google Sites-1,625,244
Microsoft Sites-55,645
Yahoo! Sites- 45,697
Megavideo.com- 36,828
CTVglobemedia- 25,200
Dailymotion.com- 20,930
Facebook.com- 19,470
Viacom Digital- 18,190
Turner Network- 12,368
Fox Interactive Media- 11,694

With 21 million Canadian viewers watching an average of 147 videos during the month of February, it’s clear marketers need to understand their viewing habits.

In a telephone interview with Mr. Segal I asked why Google Sites had so many more hits. The answer was YouTube.

YouTube is the biggest reason for the Google hits. Canadians have highest usage of YouTube, more so than any other of the 35 countries that we monitor.”

The average time on each video was 4.1 minutes which is also up from last year’s 3.3 minute average.

Nearly 88 percent of the Canadian population watched videos online. Canada has the highest penetration of the five countries that are currently being reported by comScore Video Metrix (France 82 percent, Germany 82 percent, U.K. 81 percent, U.S. 76 percent).

It seems that Canadians not only watch more videos but are at their computers for longer stretches of time. In February on average the Canadian video viewer consumed 605 minutes compared to the U.K. viewer at 540, the German viewer at 466 minutes, French viewers at 390 minutes and the average United States viewer’s 312 minutes.

For the website clients this information is vital. Knowing that their sites are getting heavy media viewer traffic is important not only for the front end of the business but the back end as well. As Segal told me:

“This knowledge not only increases the information for advertising but also in terms of what back end tools are needed to keep up with the traffic. The more views a site is getting the better the tools have to be. For instance the higher volume traffic sites have to have a prime media player that can handle the amount of traffic. It helps keep the clients and consumers happy with their viewing time.”

comScore, Inc. is one of the highest ranking sources of digital marketing intelligence with more than 1,100 clients including AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo!, BBC, Carat, Cyworld, Deutsche Bank, France Telecom, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Financial Times, ESPN, Fox Sports, Nestle, Starcom, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, the University of Chicago, Verizon Services Group and ViaMichelin. There has been a Canadian presence in Toronto for the past 10 years.

“You see, there are two major services that evaluate the size of a Web site’s audience, comScore Media Metrix and Nielsen Netratings … Only comScore, however, offers reporters access to an apples-to-apples comparison that measures the entire network of sites owned by each major player,” saidTed Leonsis, Vice Chairman of AOL

Opinion: Obama Declines to Legalize Pot for Sake of the Economy

Legal pot. That’s an idea many cling to on April 20 each year. 4/20 is a part of urban culture where toking a joint is the thing to do. Like last year it’s still an illegal activity. There bad news for those wanting change, it’s not coming from Obama.
There are those who will say celebrating a day that in itself is illegal is wrong but is it? In the past other days would have been considered illegal, like say the Fourth of July. I am in no way saying that making pot legal is as important as the birth of a nation. Still the legalization of marijuana could be revolutionary.

Think about being able to relax with your friends and not worry if the police were on the other side of the door. That in itself may take away some of the paranoia that tokers experience.

What about those small time hoods that sell their goods. If pot was legal they may be out of a job but you could be in one that would feed your family. Yea, President Obama says that isn’t going to happen but maybe Prime Minister Stephen Harper could mix it up a bit.

Hey’s it’s 4/20, folks think outside the box.

If you were wondering why 4/20 is so important to those in the ‘pot culture’ here’s a little history lesson.

A group of teens at San Rafael High School in San Rafael, California, United States in 1971 used to meet after school at 4:20 to smoke pot around the Louis Pasteur statue. That time was picked because detention let out at, you’ve got it 4:20 p.m.

Perhaps those meeting with their buddy Louis had a habit of getting in trouble at school.

Since the beginning of time, or at least 1971 the day was left open on calendars to meet, get high and celebrate the bud way of life.

SFist reports:

The group of friends were known as the Waldos, and their story, via a very long game of stoner Telephone, made it onto a flyer passed around among some Grateful Dead fans in Oakland in 1990, and was then immortalized in the May 1991 issue of High Times.

The truth is, not everyone is for legal marijuana. Some believe that marijuana is a curse on the land. They believe that making pot legal would open up a gateway to other drugs becoming legal. That all the naughty people would lay around and get high instead of making a living. They don’t want to hear that pot can be beneficial to those who are sick. Nor do they care that the herb has been around since the dawn of man. It’s against the law and that is that.

If the stuff was legal today wouldn’t be an annual party day. It wouldn’t be a day of defiance, of standing up to the man or voicing the virtues of a herb that more and more scientists are finding uses for. It would just be a day like any other.

So happy 4/20 to those that celebrate it and good luck in convincing the rulers of the world that next year it’ll be a legal holiday.

New Urine Test Could Pinpoint Lung Cancer Risk in Smokers

A new urine test that tests the levels of the chemical NNAL may be able to tell which smokers are more likely to contract lung cancer.
The chemical NNAL has been linked to lung cancer. Those who have high levels of the chemical in their urine have a 8.5 increased risk of developing cancer.

The test has been studied in about 500 men and women in Shanghai and Singapore. Results from the study were presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

NPR reports:

“A history of smoking has always been thought of as a predictor of lung cancer, but it is actually not very accurate,” said Dr. Jian-Min Yuan, associate professor of public health at the University of Minnesota. “Smoking absolutely increases your risk, but why it does so in some people but not others is a big question.”

The chemical NNAL is created as the body metabolizes tobacco. It has been shown to induce lung cancer in lab animals but the effect is just now starting to be studied in humans.

Researchers say that the test is not a means to give smokers a license to smoke. There are many other health risks associated with tobacco uses. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 23 percent of adult Americans are smokers, and smokers account for about 87 per cent of cases of lung cancer, the number one cancer killer.

The study showed that those with a medium-level NNAL test had a 43 percent higher risk of cancer and those with the highest levels had a twofold higher risk.

This evidence held true regardless of how many cigarettes a person smoked per day, the number of years of smoking, and urinary levels of another chemical, cotinine, on lung cancer risk.

Science Daily reports:

“Smoking leads to lung cancer, but there are about 60 possible carcinogens in tobacco smoke, and the more accurately we can identify the culprit, the better we will become at predicting risk,” said Yuan.

The researchers collected data from 18,244 men in the Shanghai Cohort Study and 63,257 men and women in the Singapore Chinese Health Study. They then looked at 246 current smokers who later developed lung cancer and 245 smokers who did not. The study participants were followed for 10 years.

Scientists could perfect the current test within a few years according to Yuan. The current test costs about $100 to $120. There is a catch, other than quitting smoking there is no intervention known if the risk factor is there.

Scientist Stephen Hawking Hospitalized with Chest Infection

Scientist Stephen Hawking is at Cambridge Hospital. He is said to be ‘very ill.’ At this point the physics genius is having tests run. He has been ill from a chest infection for several weeks.
The sixty-seven-year-old Hawking works at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Cambridge University. He has been the University’s Lucasian Professor of Mathematics since 1979.

Hawkings suffers from motor neurone disease. He developed symptoms of the disease in the 1960’s. He is one of the longest surviving sufferers.

The Belfast Telegraph reports:

“Professor Hawking is very ill and has today been taken by ambulance to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge,” said the University spokesman.

“He is undergoing tests. He has been unwell for a couple of weeks.”

Professor Peter Haynes, Head of the University’s Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, added: “Professor Hawking is a remarkable colleague. We all hope he will be amongst us again soon.”

6 Canadian hostages released after plane hijacked in Jamaica

A gunman boarded a CanJet Airlines plane at Montego Bay demanding to be flown to Cuba.The drama started late Sunday night when what has been described as an “mentally challenged” 20-year-old Jamaican took the plane hostage.
Jamaican authorities stormed the plane and rescued the six crew members taken hostage after negotiations with the gunman were unsuccessful. The crew was not injured.

The New York Post reports:

“We are relieved that all the passengers involved in this incident are safe,” CanJet Vice President Kent Woodside said.

Passengers were debriefed by the police after they were released. The released passengers were taken to a hotel and CanJet is planning on flying those passengers home on another aircraft.

The incident started around 10 p.m. Sunday, local time.

As the AP reports:

“It’s a most unfortunate situation, but I can say the passengers are happy to be alive,” Jamaican Information Minister Daryl Vaz said. “This whole experience has been very traumatic for them.”

CanJet Flight 918 was a Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

CNN reported:

“The hijacking is that from a mentally challenged youngster and not anything that would be of concern in terms of an international incident,” said Jamaica’s Information Minister Daryl Vaz.. “His demand was to go to Cuba,” he said.

All of the passengers are Canadian. There were 174 passengers scheduled to be on the flight but some had not boarded by the time of the hijacking.

The flight originated in Halifax, Canada. When it landed on a scheduled stop in Montego Bay, the gunman fired a shot on the boarding bridge as he entered the plane. He got on board as airport workers were loading luggage onto the aircraft. Passengers are reporting that the man asked passengers for all of their money.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in Jamaica for a one-day visit. He was monitoring the story and offered his plane up to Canadians who wanted to get back home.

China Launches English Language ‘Global Times”

China is launching an English language newspaper on Monday to push their party line in the international media arena. The paper will run five days a week.
The paper is said to be a new mouthpiece for the Chinese government using the English language. The Global Times will cover world news from the Chinese perspective according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

The editor in chief, Hu Xijin says that the goal of the newspaper is “to make friends with foreigners and to facilitate communication between China and the world.”

The Global Times will be published by the party mouthpiece People’s Daily. It is directly controlled by the Central Committee. Xinhua is controlled by the Cabinet.

The Global Times joins the Chinese version that focuses on international news. It begun in 1993. The English paper will also have a website that launches on Monday as well. The paper will be printed Monday through Friday.

Xinhua Net reports:

“It marks a new beginning for the Global Times,” said Hu Xijin, the Editor-in-Chief of the Global Times. “The world of English language was new to us. But with the launch of the Global Times English edition, we have gained confidence to make it a success, to make friends with foreigners and to facilitate communication between China and the world.”

U.S. Waterways Carry Drugs From Pharmaceutical Companies

Waterways in the United States are routine dumping grounds for pharmaceutical manufacturers seeping the drugs into drinking water.
The water you may be drinking from your tap could contain a watered-down drug cocktail. That’s the findings of an Associated Press investigation.

The scary truth is no one in the federal government is looking into the issues of US water being contaminated by the runoff from manufacturing medicines.

With no one tracking which pharmaceuticals being dumped into the waterways U.S. manufacturers are free to release a potential environmental and health nightmare at will.

PharmaWater investigation is ongoing research by AP. The investigation found 22 compounds that have shown up in water supplies. Both the EPA and the Food and Drug Administration are supposed to be monitoring the compounds for the American public. There has been a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy regarding these drug companies.

Not only are drug companies to blame for the amount of contamination. Consumers excrete the drugs not absorbed by the body and flush drugs down the toilet.

There are also an estimated 250 million pounds of pharmaceuticals and contaminated packaging discarded each year from medical centers.

It is known that even diluted amounts of drugs can harm wild life. There has been research that shows that human cells fail to grow normally in the laboratory when exposed to trace concentrations of certain drugs. Yet water utilities say their water is safe.

Two chemicals, phenol and hydrogen peroxide, account for 92 percent of the 271 million pounds of what is coming from drug makers and other manufacturers. Both of those chemicals can be toxic and are harmful for the environment.

Pfizer is one of the companies that knows that water contamination has been happening. They are working on reducing the impact their company has on the environment in a negative way.

They are working through their company’s EHS Guideline on Water Conservation requiring their facilities to:

* Review and quantify their water use
* Identify and prioritize water conservation measures
* Develop, implement and report on water conservation action plans and targets
* Support community efforts during drought conditions

The drug companies say that they are in compliance and work to prevent leakage into the water supply.

AP reports:

“Manufacturers have to be in compliance with all relevant environmental laws,” said Alan Goldhammer, a scientist and vice president at the industry trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

When AP asked the companies point blank if they tested the waterways from their plants there was no direct answer.

“Based on research that we have reviewed from the past 20 years, pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities are not a significant source of pharmaceuticals that contribute to environmental risk,” GlaxoSmithKline said in a statement.

While Pfizer says it tests its waste water when investigated further it’s only the waters outside the United States.

“The government could get a national snapshot of the water if they chose to,” said Jennifer Sass, a senior scientist for the Natural Resources Defense Council, “and it seems logical that we would want to find out what’s coming out of these plants.”

This investigation has to be looked into further. Left unchecked the United States could end up with a situation like that in Patancheru, India where their water is a medical soup.

Welsh actress Stephanie Parker found dead at age 22

A young Welsh actress has been found hanged according to South Wales Police. Stephanie Parker, 22, was on the BBC Wales show “Belonging.”
Parker had been on the show for the past 7 years, starting her role as Stacey Weaver at the age of 15. The show had been canceled just two days before wrapping up the series.

The Press Association reports:

“I can confirm that we investigated a report of a deceased woman on open ground near Pontypridd yesterday morning,” a police spokesman said. “The incident is not regarded as suspicious and a report has been passed on to the HM coroner.”

A passerby found the body of the young actress on Saturday morning. The police have said that they do not suspect foul play.

Clare Hudson, BBC Wales’ head of English language programs told BBC:

“Stephanie also worked with BBC Wales radio drama department on productions for Radio Four. Stephanie’s talent played a major part in making Belonging the success it was and I’m sure that the programme’s fans will be shocked by this untimely news. Our thoughts are with her family and friends at this very difficult time.”

Did Science Just Prove Henry VIII Was Mad?

462 years ago Henry VIII passed away years before an autopsy could delve into his brain. On the History Channel Monday a belated autopsy will explore the husband from Hell and expose madness.
In the past when someone died doctors didn’t have the means to find out the causes of death. Certainly that was the case over 450 years ago when King Henry VIII passed away leaving questions and a new church in his wake.

Scientists have been able to look into the man who at 57 died crippled by leg ulcers and a huge waist.

When he became king he was an athletic teen who loved to joust. The king’s waist can be measured by the waist measurements throughout his years of armor.

King Henry VIII was well educated, speaking several languages and a lover of the arts. He was also very hated by his rivals and not a fan of the ex-wives that survived their marriage. Two of his wives lost their heads when they lost favor with their King.

AP reports:

“Clearly, at the beginning of his reign he was quite a catch – ebullient, charismatic, handsome,” said Dolman, who has put together a touching exhibition at Hampton Court devoted to the women in Henry’s life – his put-upon wives and his two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth.

“He’s a horrid person, but he is a passionate person and he loves – passionately loves – at least four of his wives.”

England was changed by his reign to this day. The church of England was Henry VIII’s doing and stands still strong to this day.

Gulf News reports:

“He marked the transition from a medieval state to a modern state. He founded the Church of England. He swaggered out and claimed a place for England on the European stage that it has held ever since, despite its size,” said Suzannah Lipscomb a curator at Hampton Court Palace.

Was his love of jousting the reason that he spiraled into madness. Doctors have found that he suffered brain damage following a jousting fall.

Henry VIII also suffered from malaria, syphilis and diabetes.

Tune into the Discovery Channel to find out the science behind Henry VIII’s death.

Are Ashkenazi Jews Smarter Than The Rest Of Us?

Why are some European Jews prone to so many deadly genetic diseases? That question always puzzled Gregory Cochran. It wasn’t logical, thought the self-taught genetics scholar. But the answer could be intelligence.
That question sent Cochran on a search through scientific journals.

Cochran believes he has discovered the answer: the faulty genes increase intelligence. He quickly sent an email to collaborator Henry Harpending, professor of anthropology at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and a member of the National Academy of Sciences reports the LA Times.

“I’ve figured it out, I think,” Cochran typed. “Pardon my crazed excitement.”

The “faulty” genes, Cochran concluded, make Jews smarter.

The two worked together on an age old debate on the link between IQ and DNA. Early this year their book “The 10,000 Year Explosion” were published.

Some scientists dismiss the idea that one race is smarter than another because of the racist implications that it would conjure, says the LA Times.

“What are their theories about those on the opposite end of the spectrum?” asked Neil Risch, director of the Institute for Human Genetics at UC San Francisco, who finds the matter so offensive he can barely discuss it without raising his voice. “Do they have genetic theories about why Latinos and African Americans perform worse academically?”

Neither Cochran nor Harpending are Jewish. The say that on average Ashkenazi Jews have a higher IQ. The average IQ is 100 while the Ashkenazi Jews average falls between 107.5 to 115.

It makes sense. Jews make up less than 3 per cent of the US population yet they have won more than a quarter of the Nobel Prizes awarded to American scientists since 1950.

The prevalence of certain diseases that kill more Ashkenazi Jews than any other group like Tay-Sachs, Niemann-Pick disease and Caravan disease all affect the brain and cause a very early death. They also involve problems with processing sphingolipids, the fat molecules that transmit nerve signals.

Only 108 of the 20,000 human genes are known to be involved in sphingolipid metabolism. The odds that Ashkenazi Jews would have four sphingolipid storage disorders by random chance are less than 1 in 100,000, he calculated.

Other scientists have thought that IQ could have something to do with the DNA but Cochran and Harpending are the first to make a broad case linking multiple Jewish genetic diseases to intelligence. The pair’s theories came from research on history, statistics, neurobiology and population genetics.

T. J. Kelleher reviewed the book in SEED, bringing out several interesting points:

Cochran and Harpending also find value in such work [as the Genographic Project], but they argue for a fuller appreciation of the geographic distributions of genes, and in doing so, they herald a new era not only in biological anthropology, but also for history. They do not stop with what information about human history can be found in the genes, precisely because many gene variants are not neutral. Where the usual geographical analysis treats the distribution of genes as an effect of history, in Cochran and Harpending’s view, the genes themselves are a cause: Two variants in the same gene do not necessarily have the same effect, and the relative selective advantages and disadvantages of them will — not surprisingly, to anyone versed in evolutionary biology — influence the movements of genes through populations over both space and time.

The academic community though has yet to embrace the theory but some are saying that it does need to be researched further.

The LA Times reports:

Dr. Melvin Konner, a biological anthropologist at Emory University in Atlanta, said he’s impressed by the theory’s ability to explain why all the Ashkenazi diseases are clustered “on about five pages of a biochemistry textbook.” But, he added, Cochran and Harpending still have to show that the genes play a direct role in brain development.

“There’s evidence that some of them do,” he said. “It’s not a crazy idea. It’s just not nearly a proven idea.”

Elaine Paige Asks Susan Boyle For Duet

The stars of the world have been moved by the voice of Susan Boyle. The likes of Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher have twitted their praise. For Boyle the best news has to be that Elaine Paige has asked to record a duet.
Singer Elaine Paige has got Susan Boyle fever like much of the globe. Before Boyle’s voice stunned the world she had spoken of Paige when Simon Cowell asked who she’d like to be as famous as.

BBC reports that Paige has put an offer on the table for Boyle.

“Ever since Susan’s appearance on Britain’s Got Talent my inbox has been flooded with e-mails,” said the actress on her BBC Radio Two show on Sunday afternoon.

“Perhaps we should record a duet?” she continued.

“I will continue to watch and I hope you make it to the final,” she told Boyle. “I wish you every success.”

As Boyle’s fame grows so does her presence on television. The modest singing sensation has already appeared on Larry King Live, Good Morning America, NBC and CBS. There are whispers that Oprah wants her to grace her stage.

Ashton Kutcher twitted that sing Boyle perform “just made my night” and it brought tears to the eyes of his wife Demi Moore.

Larry King has told his viewers that the only one that could beat Boyle at this point would be Frank Sinatra.

King told her if she is to be beaten “Sinatra will have to be reborn” and he added: “You’ll be singing for the Queen, Susan, I predict it.”

The new found fame hasn’t seemed to have changed the modest Boyle.

The Sunday Mail reports:

“That doesn’t bother me. I knew I had to get on with my act. I wasn’t sure how I would be received, so I just thought I’d give it a whirl.”

Susan said: “I just take it all in my stride, I’m enjoying it. I haven’t had time to think!”

Questioned about her chances of winning, she replied: “I can only do my best, like everybody else.”

Don’t think she’ll be a one song wonder, friend Derek Brown, 47, told The Guardian the best is yet to come.

“I wouldn’t say the one she did on the telly was her best song, you should hear her belt out ‘The Fields of Athenry’ or that song from Titanic ['My Heart Will Go On'],” he said.

Boy Dies After Attempting Stunt From TV Show Roadies

Chandan Singh never missed an episode of the show Roadies. On Saturday night the nine-year-old died trying to do a stunt on the show.
The young boy accidentally hung himself after watching the Saturday night episode of Roadies. In the show two female contestants were made to stand on a wooden stool with their hands tied. A rope was placed around their necks as another contestant had three minutes to save them.

NDTV News reports:

“He watched the episode on the third floor of our house along with his friends and tried to imitate the stunt after his friends left. After hearing a loud noise, I rushed to the room and found Chandan hanging from the ceiling fan,” his uncle Bhagat Singh told media persons.

Inspector Jaganath Saroj of Vikas Nagar police station said: “According to his uncle, Bhagat Singh, with whom he used to live in the Vikas Nagar locality, Chandan never missed any episode of the show.”

The boy was pronounced dead at hospital.

Shopaholics Can Rejoice, The Recession Is A Shopping Dream

The recession may be making life more difficult but for shopaholics this is a dream come true. So get out your visa and come along for some of the best buys this year.
Time reports that the picking is ripe for shoppers to pick up pricey items at bargain basement prices.

Do you love cashmere? This is the season to buy those sweaters that are a luxury item. At Target you can grab a Cashmere Capelet for a mere $37.49 that was going for $149.99.

Dressy clothes are also on the chopping block. If you want the ultimate bridal gown it might not cost you the price of a car if you hurry.

Maybe clothes aren’t your thing. Are you a tech lover? Now is the time to upgrade your computers. Two years ago it cost $200 to upgrade to 4 gigabytes, now you can do so for under $50.

Are you a shutterbug? Cameras cost a ton, or they used to. It’s now possible to get a 10-megapixel digital camera for $185.55 at the Shopping Channel.

The economy is down and going out is not in a lot of budgets. Staying home shouldn’t be a problem though if you grab a new flat-screen television for under $500 at Target.

Grab your wallet and hit the stores, the recession was made for those with shopper syndrome. And when you come home with all those bargains you can honestly smile while telling your partner that you saved them a bundle.

Park found muffins sicken four puppies in Southern Ontario

Four puppies in the Durham Region have gotten sick when they ate muffins laced with marijuana. The muffins had been hidden by a teen boy in a nearby park.
The teen is said to have hosted several house parties while his parents were on holiday during Spring Break.

The teen took the muffins to the Poplar Park after cleaning up from the last party as so his parents would not discover them.

Several dogs sniffed out the pot-laced goodies and woofed them down on March 23. They became ill after indulging on the treats. All of the dogs recovered.

The police at first feared that the stash had been laced with an antifreeze-like substance.

There are no charges pending. The teen showed remorse and is willing to personally apologize to the pet owners.

CBC reports:

“Investigators do not believe there was any criminal intent and the teenager did not think about the consequences of his actions,” the release said.

Murder Ends The Game

One young woman is dead, one young woman sits in jail, another sits at home with the baby she had as a teenager. There is one man that connects the dots. The unemployed young man is said to be a player. He indeed played with the hearts of the three women.

Early Wednesday morning Sarah Rose Ludemann, 18, was stabbed in the heart. She died in a pool of blood on a Pinellas Park, Florida street less than a half-mile from her mother and home. Two services will be held Saturday, from noon until 3 p.m. and from 5 to 8 p.m. The funeral home is at 5750 49th Street N.

Saturday morning Rachel Marie Wade, 19, sits in county jail under a $500,000 bond. She faces charges of second-degree murder in the death of Sarah Rose Ludemann. Rachel has a criminal past. She was arrested in 2005 for battery as a juvenile and arrested for shoplifting in 2006 and 2007. It is possible that the charge against her will be upgraded to first-degree murder.

Another woman in this story goes without a name. She dated Joshua Camacho, 19 first. She had his baby.

Joshua Camacho is the connecting dot in this story. He dated three women. Two timed at least two of them.

Rachel started texting Sarah all day. The two were rivals for the affections of Joshua. They had been fighting over the young man for over a year along with the mother of his baby.

The feud started in the parking lot of a Taco Bell where one of the girls worked. Silly String was sprayed, punches thrown, car mirrors broken. It followed to cyberspace. Threats issues. Promises made.

On Tuesday night the feud ended. Sarah heard that Rachel was hanging out with friends near by. She drove her green minivan to confront the woman with two others. Rachel is said to have been allegedly waiting for her with a kitchen knife.

The knife was plunged into Sarah’s chest.

Tampa Bay.com reports:

“She was out with friends. Coming home. I was waiting up for her, just after midnight, when the phone rang,” Gay Ludemann said Friday. Ludemann was so close to the crime scene, she got there while paramedics were trying to save her daughter.

“She never got to hear me say, ‘I love you, Sarah,’ ” Ludemann said, sniffling. “I kept saying it, but she never heard.”

The time line of this story played out on MySpace and with police reports starting February 21, 2008.

Police Report (2/21/08)
Eight month pregnant Erin waited for Sarah and Joshua outside movie theater. He yelled at Erin. Erin pushed Joshua.

MySpace-Rachel (6/17/08)
When we first met I was madly in love and it lasted for years but since then things have changed. … You called me names, you slept around. … I deserve so much better!

Police Report (7/2/08)

Sarah drives Erin to confront Joshua abut sleeping with the two girls at the same time. Erin’s infant is in the backseat. Joshua punches Sarah in the face.

Police Report (7/31/08)

Rachel reports that Sarah and friends are following her. Reports that Sarah shot Silly String at her car.

Sarah says Rachel’s friend bumped her car so they chased them.

Police Report (8/31/08)

Sarah says that Rachel called her 20 times in a two hour period harrassing her about dating Joshua.

Rachel says that Sarah sent her threatening e-mails.

Joshua admits dating both girls at the same time.

MySpace-Rachel (9/12/08)

I’m an independent chick! Yeah, I got a man. But I’m not one of those spoiled little girls who … expects the world from her man! … So yall hoes can just stop hatin …

Then silence until earlier this past week.

Rachel’s last MySpace login: 4/13/09

Mood:Loving my boo

Sarah’s last MySpace login: 4/14/09

Mood: iloveyoubaby

Police Report (4/15/09)

Homicide. Suspect in fatal stabbing arrested.

There is no more fighting. Death ends the game.

Roxana Saberi Sentenced To Eight Years In Jail

Journalist Roxana Saberi was sentenced this week to eight years in jail by a Tehran court for spying. Her father says that the young woman was tricked into confessing.

The woman “confessed” after being told that she would be released if she co-operated according to her father. Saberi is being held at Evin prison in Tehran.

News 24 reports:

“Her denial is documented in her case, but apparently they did not pay attention to it,” Reza Saberi said. “We are very shocked and we were not expecting it.

“We were hoping for six months and then clemency.”

Several other US-Iranians have been detained for security charges in recent years but have always been released after months in jail. Iran rarely arrests foreign journalists, but foreign nationals with Iranian parents who work as journalists are subject to extra scrutiny and are sometimes harassed.

Saberi, who is of Iranian and Japanese descent, was born in the United States. She had been living in Iran for six years working for the US-based National Public Radio (NPR). In 2006 Iran revoked her press card and since that time all of work has been deemed “illegal.”

The New York Times reports:

In a statement released Saturday, Vivian Schiller, the president and CEO of NPR, said “We are deeply distressed by this harsh and unwarranted sentence.”

She also said that “ we know her as an established and respected professional journalist.”

Saberi was arrested on a much lighter charge of buying alcohol. She was later accused of working as a reporter without press credentials. The final charge that came from the prosecutor’s office who said this month she would be put on trial for spying. The trial took place on Monday behind closed doors.

This is the harshest sentence given by the Iranian court to a dual-national to date.

Study Says Non-Q-Wave Silent Heart Attacks Happen More Often

Silent heart attacks may happen much more often than was commonly thought. That may mean that more people are at risk of a deadly heart attack than was previously suspected according to Duke University experts.
Dr. Han Kim of Duke University thinks that these silent heart attacks, known as unrecognized myocardial infarctions happen more often than what studies have shown in the past.

Doctors look for certain changes when a patient is brought into the ER having a heart attack. Looking at the tell tale signs on an ECG and checking for certain enzymes in the blood is often the tools that emergency room doctors use in treating cardiac patients. Often when a heart attack has happened recently the Q-wave on the EGC shows a change. The problem is not every heart attack will change that Q-wave.

Dr. Kim and his colleagues used a new type of MRI imaging called delayed enhancement cardiovascular magnetic resonance. This new technology is very adept when it comes to locating damaged heart muscles.

The study of 185 patients with coronary artery disease but no record of heart attacks found that 35 percent had evidence of prior silent heart attacks with non-Q-wave patterns. This showed that the non-Q-wave pattern is much more common than silent heart attacks with Q-wave patterns.

In follow ups of patients with the non-Q-wave heart attacks it was found that the sufferers had an 11-fold higher risk of death from any cause than the other patients. More startling is that they have a 17-fold higher risk of death from heart problems compared to patients that did not have any heart damage.

Dr. Kim’s research may change the way these patients are treated. They are currently treated the same as any other heart patient.

One Cell Could Lead To Prostate Cancer

John Hopkins experts think they may have narrowed metastatic cancer down to one singe cell. Studying the autopsies of 33 men who died from prostate cancer the experts were able to pinpoint the single cell that has genetic defects.
The scientists went all out on the research, taking the tumors from the 33 men and preparing 150,000 slides and 30,000 blocks of tissue. The results of the 14 year study was hindered by finding men who would allow for an autopsy immediately after the died from prostate cancer. Findings from the study were published online April 12 in Nature Medicine.

Science Daily reports:

“Many of the men were motivated to join the study in hopes of leaving some legacy that might lead to cures for this cancer,” says Bova, who holds secondary appointments in the departments of pathology, genetic medicine, health sciences informatics, oncology, and urology at Johns Hopkins.

“Much is unclear and appears chaotic about how cancer spreads, but analyzing genetic markers allows us to trace its roots backward, somewhat like ancestry,” says Bova.

The single cell left clues for the researchers hidden in the changes that occur in a cell’s DNA. Cancers are caused when the DNA code of a cell is altered. When the DNA because mutated for whatever reason it can cause unchecked cell growth and spread.

The scientists scanned genes that spanned the entire genome from autopsy samples looking for areas of copy number variations. Attaching the DNA to special silicon chips they then photographed them into a computer program that produced a report with varying colors representing the amount of DNA per sample.

The scans allowed the scientists to compare the patterns of gains and losses in tissue samples from multiple metastatic sites in 29 of the bodies. Unique copy number changes where noted along with shared multiple metastatic sites in each man and then again with the other men as a whole in the study.

What the researchers found was that several of the men had missing chunks of DNA in the same DNA region.

Science Daily reports:

Tissue samples from 14 of the 33 men were studied at the highest available resolution, and all showed common genetic patterns across metastatic sites, suggesting a single cell source for their cancer.

Future research is planned to see if the different metastatic sites came from a “big bang” in the prostate or if the changes happen more slowly.

With time the results from these studies could make for personalized cancer therapies for patients of prostate cancer.

In other prostate cancer news the SLC45A3-ELK4 gene fusion has been found to be detectable at high levels in urine as a risk factor in some men. If more testing shows that the data can be validated future testing for prostate cancer may become simpler.

Science Daily reports:

“Our work has a long-term goal of achieving a test that distinguishes clinically significant prostate cancer from indolent disease that does not require additional treatment. With better diagnosis, we will be able to treat cancer patients with individualized therapies — one of the main goals of the Cancer Center at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center,” continues Dr. Rubin, who is the Center’s associate director of translational research and a pathologist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Work is already underway using the gene fusion TMPRSS2-ERG in another urine test for the disease.

It’s believed that different types of gene fusions may be a common mechanism with cancer. By hijacking androgen-regulated genes with nearby genes alternations could be occurring. It may be the way that tumors have the competitive edge in the body.

Palin Slams Obama At Anti-Abortion Dinner In Indiana

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin took out time during a anti-abortion dinner to criticize President Obama for supporting abortion rights. Palin spoke to a crowd at the Vanderburgh County Right to Life banquet Thursday night.
Palin and Republican National Convention Chairman Michael Steele both spoke Thursday night at the Indiana event.

Politico reports:

“Palin drew approximately 3,000 people to the Vanderburgh County Right to Life fund raising dinner in Evansville, an annual banquet that typically attracts some of the GOP’s top national talent. Her sold-out appearance in a local exhibition hall prompted organizers to set up a paid closed-circuit broadcast at a nearby auditorium for a large spill-over crowd and led local authorities to close down nearby streets.”

Palin said that being pregnant with Trig, born with Down’s Syndrome has given her the opportunity to live out her own anti-abortion beliefs.

Newser reports:

“The moment he was born, I knew that moment my prayers had been answered,” Palin said. “Trig is a miracle. He is the best thing that ever happened to me and I want other women to have that opportunity.”

Palin believes that instead of allowing abortions women with unwanted pregnancies should give the child up for adoption.

The dinner was attended by nearly 3,000 people. The Right to Life banquet is an said to be the nation’s largest event.

The dinner was the first time since the 2008 presidential campaign that Palin has been outside of Alaska for a major public event.

Flying Your Pet in Style, Pet Airlines

Pet Airlines has opened for business serving New York, Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago and Washington, D.C. Instead of putting your pet in the cargo hold the airline places the animals in the seat free plane into carrying cases.
The animals may be without their owners on the flight but they have “pet attendants” who are with them at all times. Before they board their plane they get to hang out in a special animal lounge.

The pet owners drop their pets off at a smaller airport on the way to their own flights. Animal flights are made to coincide with their owner’s flight schedules. After the owner has gone through their flight they pick up Fido or Spot from a lounge.

Zoo Too reports:

“You don’t have to worry about missed flights or connections,” Binder said. “Someone will be with your pet at all times, until you are there to collect them.

“This is about the safety and comfort of your pet. We can’t stress that enough. We are pet lovers, we are our own audience.”

The planes can carry as many as 50 pets at a time.

While the company is just starting down the runaway it’s been in the works since 2005.

Pet Airlines is working in conjunction with Suburban Air flight, Inc. using Beechcraft 1900’s. The planes are climate-controlled.

Zoo Too reports:

“Within the last 20 years, there has been a great deal of concern and care over the welfare of pets, and airlines are now very restricted for where they can keep the animals, the temperature of the environment, the length of the flight, and things like that,” said Greg Hammer, DVM, of Dover, Del.

“I think they do a very nice job of taking care of the animals — they have to.”

The $150 flight costs are comparable with other airlines. American Airlines charges $150 for pets in the cargo area and $100 for the pet to travel in the main cabin. Continental is a lot cheaper for cargoed pets at $55. If you want your pet with you on Continental is will cost you $125. Delta is more expensive at $150 for an animal flying beside you or $275 in cargo. Some airlines like Southwest Airlines refuse to allow any animal on its planes.

Putting a pet in the cargo hold comes with risk. Of the two million pets that traveled that way last year about 5,000 were injured on route.

At this time the Pet Airlines site has had too much travel and is off-line.

According to one comment on their Facebook page the company is hoping to cater to the show dog crowd as they grow.

Their first flight is due to take off on July 14th.

Women and children make up large portion of death count in Iraq

The bombs drop on a village said to be housing insurgents. The death tolls mounts. The village mourns their dead women and children.
That is the sad tale of too many villages in Iraq where the most innocent members of the war have been the ones that pay with their lives. Analysis being carried out for the Iraq Body Count report the 39 per cent of those killed in air raids are children, 46 per cent are women. When it comes to mortars used by both American and Iraqi government forces and the insurgents the death toll is even higher; 42 per cent children and 44 per cent women.

Those road side bombs that make the news do not just kill the military. One in five of the deaths are children and one in four are women.

The Raw Story reports:

“Analysis carried out for the research group Iraq Body Count (IBC) found that 39 per cent of those killed in air raids by the US-led coalition were children and 46 per cent were women,” Kim Sengupta reports for The Independent. “Fatalities caused by mortars, used by American and Iraqi government forces as well as insurgents, were 42 per cent children and 44 per cent women.”

When suicide bombers hit a market even more women and children perish. Pushing the numbers at King’s College and Royal Holloway, University of London academics see that the highest cost in the war in Iraq has been those who have the least amount of say, the children and women in small villages. the figures were reported in the report The Weapons That Kill Civilians, Deaths of Children and Noncombatants in Iraq.

There have been 99,774 total deaths so far in Iraq according to the IBC. The death tolls according to The Lancet is much higher with one study saying in the first three years of the war 600,000 people were killed.

IBC reports:

The authors conclude that “Policymakers, war strategists of all persuasions, and the groups and societies that support them bear moral and legal responsibility for the effects that particular combat tactics have on civilians — including the weapons used near and among them.”

1,500 Indian farmers commit suicide

As many as 1,500 farmers in the agricultural state of Chattisgarh in India committed suicide. The shocking number appears to be a result of not being able to pay off local money lenders.
The farmers had been affected by the dropping water levels.

Press Association reports:

(Money-lenders) lure farmers to take money but when the crops fail, they are left with no option other than death,” Organic Farming Association of India spokesman Bharatendu Prakash told The Press Association.

The government in India has recently waived $15 billion in debt but that didn’t factor in for those who had made private arrangements with local lenders. In India, those who are in debt feel they only have one way out: death.

The Daily Times reports:

The agricultural state of Chattisgarh was hit by falling water levels. “The water level has gone down below 250 feet here. It used to be at 40 feet a few years ago,” Shatrughan Sahu, a villager in one of the districts, told Down To Earth magazine. Most of the farmers here are indebted and only God can save the ones who do not have a bore well.”

Over the last 10 years, it’s estimated that 10,000 Indian farmers have ended their own lives.

Pirate Bay defendents sentenced to jail time and fines

Torrent Freak is reporting that Pirate Bay has lost its court case in Sweden. Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm and Carl Lundström were all found guilty.
The Pirate Bay team will have to spend a year in jail and the fine between the four of them totals over $3.6 million. The court said that the four worked as a team and were aware that copyrighted material was being shared using Pirate Bay. It said that the infringement was severe. The first offense was done by the users of Pirate Bay by sharing the files and the team was found guilty of assisting this copyright infringement.

The civil case ran along side the criminal case. The $3.6 million will be paid in compensation for lost sales and split up among 17 media companies. Some of the companies are Twentieth Century Fox ($1.3 million), followed by Columbia Pictures ($504,000) and Warner Bros. ($300,000).

Torrent Freak reports:

Peter Althin, brokep’s lawyer said, “I spoke to Peter and he wasn’t very surprised. A journalist he’d spoken to knew an hour before it was public that all four would be convicted. The verdict was leaked from the court. I have to think about what effects that can have on the sentence. It is unacceptable that the court is leaking.”

The judge also said that the usage of BitTorrent at Pirate Bay is illegal.

Pirate Bay’s site has said “But as in all good movies, the heroes lose in the beginning but have an epic victory in the end anyhow. That’s the only thing Hollywood ever taught us.”

The TPB is asking for Sweden to be banned from the Internet according to Paul Glazowski.

TPB will evidently be “asking…international ISPs to block traffic to Sweden. Yes, that’s right! We want Sweden to be banned from the Internet.” Brokep’s explanation for such a request? “The ISPs need to block Sweden in order to protect their own customers integrity since everything they do on Swedish ISPs’ networks will be logged and searched.”

According to Peter Sunde Pirate Bay will stay on the Web as the site was not on trial. The four will be appealing the verdict so that final, final decision could be years off.

Torrent Freak reports:

While the judge won’t be getting any flowers for this verdict, Roger Wallis who spoke in favor of The Pirate Bay at their trial and received a mountain of floral tributes in return, noted, “This will cause a flood of court cases. Against all the ISPs. Because if these guys assisted in copyright infringements, then the ISPs also did. This will have huge consequences. The entire development of broadband may be stalled.”

Bush signed-off on stinging insect interrogation method at Gitmo

New reports coming out show that former President Bush approved the use of insects to be placed in a confinement box during the interrogation of Al Qaeda official Abu Zubaydah. The secrets the CIA wanted to be buried are now out for public display.
The rules that Bush’s administration approved from CIA interrogation are the stuff of nightmares; being thrown against a wall 30 times was allowed as was denying prisoners sleep for more than a week.

The legal memorandum for the CIA was prepared by Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee. It reviewed 10 techniques that could have been used to interrogate Zubaydah and determined they were not torture under U.S. criminal law.

Those techniques included attention grasp, walling (hitting a detainee against a flexible wall), facial hold, facial slap, cramped confinement, wall standing, stress positions, sleep deprivation, insects placed in a confinement box, and water-boarding. The memorandum was written on Aug. 1, 2002.

According to reports, Bybee says the approved torture techniques would not prove to have lasting effects on the prisoners. The Christian Science Monitor reports:

“In the absence of prolonged mental harm, no severe mental pain or suffering would have been inflicted, and the use of these procedures would not constitute torture within the meaning of the statute,” Mr. Bybee wrote.

On Thursday as President Obama absolved CIA officers Thursday he in effect tied his hands to the torture used on the prisoners at Gitmo.

The CIA wanted the memos kept secret. Obama however wants the United States to be able to move beyond “a dark and painful chapter in our history.” Unleashing the cruel skeletons from the political closet is one way of doing so.

Time quotes the memorandum on the use of insects.

“You [the CIA] would like to place Zubaydah in a cramped confinement box with an insect. You have informed us [the Department of Justice] that he appears to have a fear of insects. In particular, you would like to tell Zubaydah that you intend to place a stinging insect into the box with him. You would, however, place a harmless insect in the box. You have orally informed us that you would in fact place a harmless insect such as a caterpillar in the box with him.”

The CIA is said to have never used the above method according to another declassified memo also released on Thursday. It has been verified that water-boarding was used to interrogate Zubaydah.

The legal rules that Bybee had written out are no longer used by the United States. President Obama signed under an executive order his first week that all CIA interrogators must follow the Army Field Manual’s rules.

Kansas City Star quotes CIA director Leon Panetta:

He said: “The fact remains that CIA’s detention and interrogation effort was authorized and approved by our government. For that reason, as I have continued to make clear, I will strongly oppose any effort to investigate or punish those who followed the guidance of the Department of Justice.”

Human Rights Watch wants more to be done though now that the secret documents have been released.

UPI reports:

“President Obama said there was nothing to gain ‘by laying blame for the past,’” said Stacy Sullivan, counterterrorism advisor at Human Rights Watch. “But prosecuting those responsible for torture is really about ensuring that such crimes don’t happen in the future.”

The Rebuilding of WTC Office Towers Could Take Decades

Because of the recession, failing real estate market and building costs the construction of office towers at the site of the WTC could be put off for decades. Analysis projections show that just one skyscraper could be built and occupied by 2036.
The Port Authority is dealing with the recession just like much of the world. Developer Larry Silverstein has been unable to secure financing for all of the towers and there is only $1 billion left in insurance money to pay for their construction.

The more the recession hits the harder the money will be to complete the project. About a week ago the Port Authority did agree to back about $800 million in financing but will that be enough.

AP reports:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has committed city office space to the one tower the Port Authority agreed to back, said Thursday the 2036 date is “just a number out of the blue.”

“My hope is that things will get done a lot quicker. … The problem is that you sort of have to do everything or at least part of everything because if you don’t, then nothing works.

With the exodus of heavy hitters like Merrill Lynch and AIG from downtown Manhattan there is question also as to the need for the towers until about 2013. The Port Authority is now saying until the demand for office space is here the second two towers shouldn’t be completed. But considering the wording of the original leasing documents that would put Silverstein in jeopardy.

CBS 4 reports:

“The Port Authority’s obligation is to rebuild the site in the public interest based on the economic reality today,” the agency said in a statement. “That starts with keeping the memorial and the other public infrastructure on the timeline and budget we’ve committed to, and it extends to building the right amount of office space to meet what is now a very different market downtown.”

Silverstein has been asking the Port Authority to guarantee the financing of two of his towers. By doing so Janno Lieber, who is overseeing the trade center site, the Port Authority could collect for 90 years of the remaining lease that Silverstein has.

The Seattle Times quotes Lieber:

“Most important, from a public standpoint, this allows the Port Authority to honor its commitment to rebuild lower Manhattan – a promise that the agency has made many times since 9/11,” he added.

Analysis prepared by Cushman & Wakefield for the Port Authority sees that while two of the towers could be built by 2013, the second tower would not be fully leased until 2025. The third tower wouldn’t be built and leased until 2035.

Because of the wording of the lease Silverstein has to have all three towers built by 2013 or he will forfeit the rights to them.

AP reports:

“The option to build ’stumps’ instead of gleaming office towers must be rejected, as it would be a failure from which the site as a whole may not soon recover,” wrote Gary La Barbera, president of the Building & Construction Trades Council of Greater New York.

The new proposals have not yet been rejected by Silverstein but he’s not going to sing on the dotted line until a new deal is in place.

Silverstein is currently being paid $300,000 a day in late fees for not having the land completely excavated.

The Seattle Times reports:

“If you don’t have commercial tenants demanding the space, I don’t see it being developed,” Kathryn Wylde, chief executive of the Partnership for New York business group said. But she wondered at projections like the 2030 date, saying demand for new office space in lower Manhattan would happen long before that.

“It may take five years, it may take 10 years,” she said, “but it’s not going to take 21 years.”

CBC Starting New Age of 24-Hour News Coverage

CBC News announced Thursday that it reorganizing its way of news gathering with an emphasis on 24-hour-a-day coverage. The news department is forging ahead despite dwindling funding and a smaller staff.
This comes at a time when the department has to deal with a cut of $7 million and losses of more than 70 jobs.

Just weeks ago, on March 25 the CBC announced it had to cut $171 million from operating costs for 2009-2010 because of shortfalls from advertising revenue.

The new direction has been in the works for the past two years. Because of the reorganization of the department, the restructuring is much more urgent.

CBC reports:

“We’ve been investing across all platforms and trying to better serve Canadians in the way they live,” she said in an interview. “At the same time, we’re dealing with incredible [financial] pressure. What we’ve been trying to do is look at how we work and what we do and do it more efficiently,” said Jennifer McGuire, interim head of news.

According to McGuire, local news service will be improved. Regional service will be worked out over the next two months. She pointed out that the CBC has been too slow on news coverage because no one has been monitoring early morning news.

While CBC plans to focus on 24-hour-a-day coverage, there are fewer people to handle the workload.

Journalists car-jacked in Detroit while reporting city struggles

Two Dutch reporters got an inside look at crime when they went to Detroit last week to report about the city and its struggles. The journalists were carjacked near Ford Field.
Detroit News reports the pair say that they will remain fans of the city. Jacqueline Marris, 50, and freelance photographer Daimon Xanthopoulos, 29, are used to being in rough and tumble towns. They have covered war-torn Africa and the Middle East. The story in Detroit begins on Monday on VPRO.

The series will be telling the resilience of Detroit residents despite living in a decaying city.

“It’s so (expletive) sad people have to live among idiots like that,” said Jacqueline Maris, 50, an award-wining senior foreign correspondent for VPRO, The Netherlands’ national public radio.

The two were at a former housing project when they were approached by armed gunmen wanting their car. The car was recovered later that day just blocks from the crime scene.

“I don’t like hit-and-run journalism,” Maris said, “I feel a lot of the reports I see and read of Detroit are like that. I always want to do stories about people and go out in the streets, whether it’s Africa, the Middle East or the projects of New Orleans. We found many people who give hope to (Detroit). They are not waiting for the City Council or anyone to take some initiative to change things for the better. It is those people who make up most of Detroit, not those stupid criminals.”

During Maris’ stay in the northern city she encountered drugs, gangs and garbage. The dirty side of Detroit struck her hard.

UPI reports:

“It’s very shocking. Wherever you go you see the houses that were once the houses of dreams. You see once there was a thriving life there,” Maris said, describing Detroit as a city where “many people are trapped.”

Flying to a City Near You, Pandemics in the 21st Century (Part 2)

There is no question that we will have to deal with an epidemic at some point. In part one of this series we looked at the hows of what can start a pandemic, now it’s time to look at how it will spread to Canada.
The second half of Pandemic flight path: How infectious disease spreads through the global airline transportation network was a lecture by Dr. Kamran Khan, Research Scientist at the Centre for Research on Inner City Health St. Michael’s Hospital.

When SARS hit Toronto Dr. Khan wanted to see if it was time to devote his life to how global population mobility was the key to pandemics. After running the numbers back and forth he knew that this was the way pandemics will travel in the 21st century. He had found his calling.

The way an epidemic moves throughout the world has changed in the last 50 years. In the past it was fairly easy to contain certain diseases. That was before you could fly from one point on the earth to any other point within 24 hours. Air travel has changed the way diseases flow. As Dr. Khan puts it, “It’s the perfect storm for infectious disease.”

Most diseases take a little bit of time for symptoms to develop. As we jet from place to place some passenger could be carrying a deadly virus within and no visible clues showing. By the time that the person is gasping for breath several cities globally could be having sick people spreading the virus without a clue. Welcome to the 21st Century Pandemic. Modern man has created the perfect route of traffic for wide spread death.

Let’s start with SARS. The disease started in Guangdong Province, China in November 2002.
It didn’t seem like anything really important when a farmer died at hospital. China didn’t even call WHO in about it. Then others got sick. An American flying out of China got sick on a flight to Singapore and died in hospital in Hanoi. SARS was getting ready to show the world something about how diseases travel today.

A group flew into Toronto from Hong Kong. They didn’t look sick. But as we know looks can be deadly and deceiving. As they crossed the ocean and the border those passengers were carrying a ticking time bomb in them. SARS had entered Canadian ground. In the end there were 438 cases of SARS, 44 of those cases resulted in death.

It put Toronto on the map and not in the best light. North America had it’s first real glimpse of a pandemic and fear was among us.

What’s interesting to note in the case of SARS, all the clusters were in industrialized areas. There were no cases in Africa or South America. There’s a reason for this. Air traffic. When looking at the air traffic of SARS it’s interesting to note that of every imported case in Toronto not one came from a flight that had multiple stops. Almost all of the cases of imported SARS came from non-stop flights.

What’s also interesting to note is just yesterday a case of suspected SARS came down in the wires in a small town in Russia. We have changed, we now know to be on the look out of what’s going on in our back doors. Because of SARS we now have better plans in motion to stop pandemics in their paths but it took the lives of 44 to get to where we are now.

We like to travel. We also like to get to new places quickly. This is not going to change, we’re not going to go back to the days of horse and buggy. While air travel has helped humans be able to cross the globe quickly it has also compromised global public health security. We have to be ready in advance. That’s why the Bio-Diaspora Project was started. It’s goal is to understand aircraft and how they move in aspects to global health.

“The airline industry is like a heart. Within the arteries are people going places through the body.”- Dr. Khan

There are 35,000 international airports around the world. The locations are dense in some areas and farther apart in others like South America and Africa. Most of the world’s airports are in the Northern Hemisphere. There are few places in the world that a Canadian boarding at Pearson can’t get to quickly or non-stop. One of those places though is sub-terrain Africa. You can’t get there directly from Canada. That’s an important piece of the pandemic puzzle.

When we in Toronto consider air traffic and pandemic we have to group ourselves with the United States. The concerns are the same. Fifty percent of international travel that comes into Pearson came via the states. The United States accounts for 13% of international traffic world wide, Canada accounts for 3%. Those guys in Europe travel internationally a lot more than we do. And they come here, as do people from Asia. In Ontario we can get to Asia, Europe, a few cities in Australia and the United States on a non-stop airline.

Now we have to look at the flows of air travel. Those flows are much like arterial blood pressure tracing. Time and events shape the flow patterns, after 9/11 and SARS the flows into Pearson were lower. Since 2006 though the flow is back up. Certain time periods also have larger peaks, the 3rd quarter of every year has the highest spikes of air traffic.

What this tells researchers is timing when it comes to a pandemic means everything. If a pandemic hits in the Northern Hemisphere during the third quarter of the year we are in BIG TROUBLE. More people will be exposed and carry the disease farther around the world than at any other time of the year. Researchers can also tell us where these pandemics will hit, not the little villages but the major hubs of international travel. In Canada that means in order; Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa and Halifax. If you live in the Yukon you are pretty much safe from an epidemic this century.

The Bio-Diaspora Project is tracking air traffic. The researchers know where people are coming and going to. They have access to tickets, not personal information just locations. They know in Canada that each city has international hot spots. In Toronto the only African hot spot is Johannesburg, South Africa. In Montreal there are more African hot spots, in Vancouver it’s East Asia. This tracing of where the hot spots are located is important, many new diseases come from these areas.

The project will soon be allowed to study the flight traffic in real time. They will be able to have true data on weather changes and other factors in travel times. They will be able to work on emergency responce in a way that has never happened before.

Now let’s get down to brass tacks.

“No single country can protect itself.”- Dr. Khan

WHO has started planning for an international outbreak. Their vision is: An integrated global alert and response system for epidemics and other public health emergencies based on strong national public health systems and capacity and an effective international system for coordinated response. WHO has a treaty on how to prepare for outbreaks. The question is whether or not the treaty will do the trick according to Dr. Khan.

Threats to Canada

First off the main threat to Canada is natural pathogens that already exist and are in place. They just haven’t taken hold yet. There are also threats when labs that house the worst of the worst viruses and bacterias are breached. The most difficult to predict though is the threat of an intentional international release of pathogen.

Now it’s time for the truths. At this point we are still in the putting out fires phase. We do have the tools to start doing more than that but they are in their infancy. Once the disease has taken off the best we can hope for is to have the measures in place to stop the front line, those who are the first to get ill.

There is no doubt that we in Toronto are vulnerable. Pearson International Airport has the 4th highest volume of traffic in North America, more than Atlanta or Washington D.C. We are the front lines in Canada.

To be prepared we have to stay alert. But here’s some good news, the chances of an outside threat coming into Toronto are limited to 13 countries. Okay the bad news is that those same thirteen countries were also the ones that dealt with the SARS epidemic. Viruses of the 21st century have a flight path. Hong Kong, Eastern Asia, Sydney, Europe, LAX, New York, Toronto, Vancouver… the more industrialized a city, the greater the risk.

Fear is not productive. We have to prepare not only in Toronto or North America but globally. We have to be alert to disease patterns and alert other nations what is going on. This is not the time to think in terms of borders, pathogens have no borders.

“Fear isn’t productive. What researchers are trying to do with research is. Stop looking at the limits of borders and start up streaming the international realm. It’s the way of the future. We must be proactive to look upstream when it comes to pandemics.”- Dr. Khan

That means the people of the world have to understand that it takes money to stop disease flows. The richest countries like Canada will have to use money for under developed nations to save itself. When tax payers complain that $10 million was sent to Africa to work on TB that money is not only helping those in Africa but also in the long run the people of Canada. As Dr. Gardam puts it, most of the TB cases in Canada came from across the border. If we don’t help in those nations then we are setting Canada up for a huge fall.

Dr. Kahn also pointed out that clean water and sanitation has to be worked as a global partnership.

“We have to reach the point to prepare in advance. I think as we spread more domestically and far less upstream we see larger problems. The international common good will move us up stream. I see us as Canadians moving in that direction.”

Science has to sell the government though and it’s a hard sale point. Researchers have to show the government that it’s important to the economy to be pro-active.

So are we ready for the next pandemic?

Dr. Gardam says he’s more confident now than ever before. Canada has learned from the SARS epidemic what has to be in place. We are heading in the right direction. We just have to hope that the rest of the globe is also heading there as fast as we are.

But we don’t know the real answer yet. We can’t. The next big pandemic has yet to hit.

Flying to a City Near You: Pandemics in the 21st Century (Part 1)

What is the future of a pandemic? In Toronto do we need to worry about the diseases of Africa like Ebola or are other diseases more likely to attack the city? These important questions are on the minds on doctors that track the course of disease.
Wednesday night at Bar Italia in Toronto the CIHR and Saint Michael’s Hospital presented a Café Scientifique open to the public on “Pandemic Flight Path: How Infectious Disease Spread through the Global Airline Transportation Network”. I was able to attend the event. Radio personality Bob McDonald of CBC’s Quirks & Quarks hosted the forum that included discussions from Dr. Michael Gardam and Dr. Kamran Khan.

In part one we will be looking at the hows of a pandemic. The basic elements that are in place to give diseases the chance to spread like wildfire. Part two will deal with how these diseases will come to Canada.

Doctor Michael Gardam is the Director of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control at Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion. He informed the audience that “you know I am an expert because I am wearing a suit,”
and thus started a two hour evening dealing with the issues of how and what will happen when a pandemic reaches Canada and more pointedly reaches Toronto. It’s not a matter of if, we know that at some point another pandemic will hit the city. If anyone questions that they only need to go back a few years and remember the SARS epidemic. That epidemic has taught Canada what is already working and what has to be in place in time for the next killer disease wave.

When it comes down to it pandemics have certain elements that make them famous. One is genetics. Take the flu, an ordinary little virus that researchers know quite a bit about. Every year they can make a vaccine that will protect most of the population against most influenza. Now the problem comes from the fact that the flu virus itself makes mistakes. As it constantly changes sometimes one of the mutations change in a way that makes it as a disease take off. This past year scientists saw that happen when a variant of the flu became able to survive Tamiflu. When that happens you have the chance of a major pandemic running wild.

Another disease that is fairly common that has caused over the course of time is the bacterium Clostridium difficile. It’s been around for decades and at one time was a fairly harmless little fella. That is not always the cause today, case in point; recently Hamilton, Ontario saw the closure of a hospital wing when two cases were discovered. C Diff and Staph viruses have been able to become immune to many antibodies and proved to be a heck of a fighter. When it attacks the body it can bring on its toxic elements and rapidly spiral out of control. Because it causes severe diarrhea it has the means to quickly move through a population if the elements are right.

Tuberculosis (TB) is an old name when it comes to pandemics but it’s a true contender. While the disease can be managed often by medicines those same medicines have created a disease that has been able to create an immunity. Scientists know how it happens and the whys even. Take the Russia of yesterday, old communistic Russia had one thing going for it, a decent medical plan for its comrades. Those who had TB had the means to the drugs and were getting better. Than came the fall of the Communistic Bloc and people who couldn’t rely on being able to get their TB drugs. TB will mutate if not kept in check and it did. The cases of TB that started to appear were resistant to antibiotics.

Researchers know where and when TB will emerge. War. War brings out TB like a back stabbing mistress. She enters into the refugee camps where people are packed in tightly and coughing on each other. Hello epidemic.

We also have the ultimate killer, Ebola Virus. If you want to set up a disease that could in theory wipe out the world Ebola is your baby. It kills almost everyone that it touches. Quickly. In Africa where it is most often seen it uses the simplest tools, man and how man responds to death. Much of Ebola’s spread has had to do with the burial rituals in Africa. Once it takes hold it goes quickly through a village and takes no prisoners. The one thing that makes it so frightening is the one advantage that man has. It is deadly but too deadly. It can’t keep going because once it starts no one escapes, and it stays where it is. Another factor is its location which will be gone into more depth in part two of this article.

Next we have to deal with the biological aspects of a pandemic. One of the more well known biological epidemics is Mad Cow Disease. Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy is by no means a new disease. It’s been a fatal disease for decades in cattle and other animals. How it spread to humans though is because of man. Man farms cattle, man feeds cattle with cattle. That also isn’t new. What was new though was the processing that took place in the UK that lead to human cases. Old disease, little changes, epidemics. It’s simple math actually.

Next we have the social aspect of a pandemic. As the world becomes more modern more people move from rural settings into urban ones. That simply means more people in smaller places. In developed nations this isn’t a problem. The problem comes when you have all these people together and a lack of clean sanitation. It’s the perfect breeding ground for diseases like cholera.

As Dr. Gardam said Wednesday night, “Don’t put sewage and drinking water together.”

The cure to these epidemics is simple and yet it has not taken hold in countries that still have their drinking water and sewage plants next door to each other. Clean water, proper sewage and basic health care can stop many pandemics in their path.

The last step we have in a world-wide pandemic is politics. Political policies can help keep a disease alive or stop it in its tracks. When TB changed in Russia it wasn’t just the disease but the change in politics. When the Spanish Flu spread through Philadelphia in 1918 it wasn’t just the flu in charge, so was the return home of WWI vets and parades that the government wanted regardless of what doctors warned them could happen.

When all the factors are in place a pandemic will happen. In part two we will look at how it will come to Toronto and the rest of North America.

Layoffs at Toronto’s Art Gallery of Ontario Prompts Protest

There are threats that more than 100 jobs could be in the balance at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) due to restructuring and organizational changes. Those changes may be the result of a 18-month review that studied a number of U.S. museums.
It may be better news though for AGO as new funding increased by the government has come in. Because of the funding the Ontario Public Service Employees Union is saying that AGO must reverse its decision to lay of staff. But will they?

On April 8 the Ontario government added $8.6 million to this year’s funding for the gallery and added an annual operating funding of $10 million.

That didn’t make any difference. On April 2 and April 6 the gallery laid off 26 full-time employees. Many of those who lost their jobs had been with the gallery for decades. They were all in specialty fields. According to literature that OPSEU was handing out on the street the total years of experience of those who were laid off totaled 275. One of the reasons the second lay off came according to Union Stewart Paula Whitmore was on April 2 the AGO had it’s annual fund raiser. Some of those that were let go the following Monday were part of the crew that worked long hours to put the fund raiser on. Ms. Whitmore said she knew of one employee who was laid off who had toiled 16 hour days in prepping for the event and then was without a job the next Monday.

The Union also contends that the layoffs came when the management of AGO knew the additional funding would be coming. The Ontario public Service Employees Union believes that that funding the the AGO received is a good enough reason to reverse the lay offs. All of the Union staff that were let go were in highly skilled positions. Ms. Whitmore told me that the Union is concerned that the gallery’s quality of work will suffer as a result of the lay offs.

“Who’s going to be looking out for the public interest. The collection belongs to the public. The quality of the art will be suffering because those who were full-time employees and skilled have been laid off and part-time employees will have to try to have to do the work of full time employees.”

On Wednesday, April 15 the OPSEU and members of the public picketed the gallery starting at 5:30 PM. The Union chose Wednesday night because it is Toronto’s free night each week at the AGO.

Marketwire reports:

OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas asked for an immediate halt to the layoffs. “We will not stand by while the AGO pretends to care about the public and at the same time uses union-busting tactics against decent working people who have thrown their lives into this work on behalf of the public,” he said.

OPSEU and members of the public will picket the gallery at 5:30 pm on Wednesday, April 15.

“I don’t know how Teitelbaum can look himself in the mirror after saying to our staff only last week that the new AGO is a wondrous thing, brimming with life and deep potential to change the way people experience the world,” Thomas said.
Executive Director of Public Affairs Susan Bloch-Nevitte says that the gallery only knew that there was the possibility of funding. That knowledge though wasn’t all that was in consideration when it came down to the lay offer. The changes were already in place regardless of if funding came in. It’s part of a restructuring period with the gallery, one that many other galleries and museums are also having to undergo to keep afloat during these times.

“It’s never easy to have to let employees go,” Bloch-Nevitte said, “No one likes laying folks off. It’s not like yippee bring it on. But the fact is the world is changing and so is AGO. It’s a different world and economic factors are different. We can’t stop change.”

Bloch-Nevitte is correct. The times are changing not only for AGO but for museums world wide. Membership and patronage have declined. At this time it’s not a wise idea in bringing in a lot of new works when the gallery has 23,000 pieces of art, many of which have not been seen by the public yet. It’s time to bring more attention to AGO’s permanent works. That doesn’t mean that there will no new pieces being bought, just fewer. Because of this some positions at AGO have had to be streamlined. In the end 23 people of the 600 employees had to be laid off in an effort to cut costs. No one entire department was let go and the lay offs affected many different areas.

When I asked Ms. Bloch-Nevitte why it was the older employees that were let go she said that while some of those who were laid off had been with AGO for years others had not. It was more of deciding where the existing employees fit into the new structuring of the AGO and who sadly didn’t fit in. What the gallery hopes to be doing in the future is adding new positions that those who have been laid off will be able to come back to work. That will take some time though.

The truth is AGO is changing with the times, like other fields in the arts where the recession and public interest effects the tides. There will be a newer on-line focus with the gallery as well as social media and networking aspects which will result in new career opportunities.

The management of the AGO has a hard road ahead. They have to be able to make provisions for quality and still be able to run a sustainable gallery.

Polk County Jail Inmates Charged $2 per Night

If you do the crime in Polk County Florida you better be ready to pay for your time staying at the county jail. Starting on Wednesday inmates are being charged for their cells.
The $2 fee per night is estimated to bring in between $300,000 and $500,000 a year for the prison. That money will go towards offsetting the costs of food, clothing and laundry.

When the prisoners enter the jail an account is set up. The fees will be deducted
from that account or they will have a negative balance.

No one will be denied medical care of hygiene products. In fact the fees may reduce canteen sales.

The store funds help provide rehabilitation programs, exercise equipment and television sets paid for through the inmate commissary fund.

Several other Florida prisons have set fees for daily cell ‘rental.’

Polk inmates cost tax payers about $52 a day. The new program goes along with current programs in place. Inmates are charged a $30 booking fee and $9 for a hygiene kit and underwear. Those that can pay are also charged for their medical care and work programs.

With the average stay in the jail at 34 days the cost is about $100 for the mandatory fees. That’s about the same price as one night in a local motel.

Sheriff Grady Judd has some good advice for those who are complaining about the fees the Lakeland Ledger reports.

“There are always going to be some of them who whine and complain. My answer to them is stay out of county jail,” he said. “Behave your-self, quit violating the law and you don’t have to come to jail.”

Reports Of Afghan Women Being Stoned At Protest

There are reports coming in that Afghan women were stoned with gravel and small rock pellets at a protest against marriage laws in Kabul Wednesday.
About 300 women protesting the new marriage law in Kabul were attacked by 1,000 Afghans on Wednesday. The women were stoned by the mob as the police tried to separate the two groups.

The new law allows a man to demand to have sex with his wife every four days unless she is ill or would be harmed by intercourse. The new law also says when and why a wife is allowed to leave her own home alone.

The new law would apply only to the country’s Shiites but many groups fear that it will start a return to the Taliban oppression that women suffered from 1996-2001.

The world has been reacting to the new laws that deal with marital relations, divorce, inheritance and family matters for the country’s Shia Muslim minority. Some critics have said that the new revisions are even stricter than those in place when the Taliban regime was in power.

The Telegraph reports that organizers had called on Afghan women to “join us strongly to reach our voice to all over the world”, but found themselves outnumbered by vocal and angry opponents.

The protest on Wednesday scheduled by Women’s right activists was mostly attended by young women. The larger crowd was comprised of both men and women who shouted to drown out the chants of the women’s protest.

The New York Daily News reports:

“You are a dog! You are not a Shiite woman!” one man shouted to a young woman in a headscarf holding aloft a banner that said, “We don’t want Taliban law.” The woman did not shout back at the man, but told him: “This is my land and my people.”

Many of those who wanted to be part of the protest were blocked by men who refused to allow them to pass.

Female MPs have said that the law passed with very little discuss or debate in parliament after a few Shia MPs championed the cause.

News 24 reports:

The government of President Hamid Karzai has said the Shi-ite family law is being reviewed by the Justice Department and will not be implemented in its current form. Governments and rights groups around the world have condemned the legislation, and President Barack Obama has labelled it “abhorrent”.

Shia religious leaders have defended the ruling and are angry about what they call Western meddling. The Shia population in Afghanistan make up 10 to 20% of the 30 million citizens.

Study Shows More CEOs Got Raises in 2008

The recession may be in full swing but for CEO’s it appears most have escaped unscathed. In 2008 more U.S. chief executives got a raise instead of losing their jobs, according to an AFL-CIO survey released on Tuesday.
Wall Street may have been under the microscope this year with federal tax dollars bailing out major financial firms using the Troubled Asset Recovery Program. It seems though that the bail outs may have helped those at the top continue being on top of the pay check food chain.

The executive pay study of major companies by the AFL-CIO didn’t just use the amount of dollars on pay checks to calculate total pay. The total figures used included stock options granted to CEOs but not yet vested.

Vikram Pandit, Citigroup Inc CEO therefore made $38 million in 2008. Citigroup was one of the banks granted a huge portion of the bail out, $45 billion.

Yahoo Finance reports:

“When it comes to CEO pay, many companies continue to hew to the fiction of pay for performance,” said Daniel Pedrotty, director of the AFL-CIO’s Office of Investment.

The survey used data from 946 companies in the Russell 3000 index with 2008 information available. According to the results 480 executives were taking home more at the end of 2008 than at the beginning. 463 of the executives did take a cut in pay.

The median CEO salary rose 7% in 2008. It wasn’t all bad news for those who took a cut in pay. Compensation packages averaged $3.9 for those CEOs.

The AFL-CIO also launched a web site that shows how the CEOs of the US fare compared to their workers. After you check out the differences in pay you may want to try out the game feature on the site, Boot the CEO!

Child Molester Appears To Have Bitten Off Own Penis

A convicted child molester was found in New York a victim of sexual self-mutilation. It appears that the man had bitten off the tip of his own penis.
Damiene Iriarte was taken to Brooklyn Hospital Center for treatment after being found naked and bleeding behind a Brooklyn building.

Iriarte was convicted of raping a 13-year-old child in Suffolk County in 2003. He had also arrested in 2002 for violating an order of protection that a former girlfriend had taken out on him.

The New York Daily News reports:

“How he did it? Limber, I guess. Not the work of a sane mind,” a police source said.

Woman Shoots Husband After He Threatened Family

A Winter Haven, Florida woman shot her husband Tuesday morning in self-defense. He was taken to hospital after being shot several times by his wife.
Dawn Christoff, 35, allegedly shot her husband after he loaded a gun and threatened to kill his family. Police found evidence that the man was planning on shooting several family members that resided at the residence.

Before Dawn Christoff bravely fired upon her husband he loaded his weapon. As he put each bullet into the chamber he told those present who the bullet was meant for. After the gun was loaded he aimed it at his wife. He never had the chance to fire as Mrs. Christoff was also armed and defended herself.

Mrs. Christoff was not charged by the police for the shooting.

The Lakeland Ledger reports:

“Prior to the shooting he armed himself with a handgun and began to load the weapon, stating which member of his family each bullet was intended for,” said statement from police.

Troy Christoff was charged with five counts of attempted first-degree murder with a firearm. Christoff was released from Lakeland Regional Hospital under police custody. He has been booked into Polk County Jail without bond.

Troy Christoff has been arrested four times prior for battery, disorderly intoxication, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possession of methamphetamine, possession of cannabis, driving under the influence and violation of parole.

Opinion: Get Out Your Fighting Claws-Foxx and Cyrus Square Off

Jamie Foxx isn’t making fans with the Cyrus family after dissing Miley. Now instead of one person acting like a teen who was two are in a battle to take first place.
The feud between Foxx and Miley started when they young teen told Ryan Seacrest that she wanted to meet Radiohead after the Grammys. When told that the band wasn’t going to meet with her Cyrus showed her teen years with a little rant.

“The band doesn’t really do that.” “I left ‘cause I was so upset. I wasn’t going to watch. Stinkin’ Radiohead! I’m gonna ruin them, I’m going to tell everyone.” the singer further said.

The band got wind of her harsh words and suggested that when she grows up, she shouldn’t feel like she has a sense of entitlement.

And that was that until Foxx added a little vulgar fuel to the fires.

Softpedia reports:

“Jamie Foxx had some not-so-nice words for Miley Cyrus during his weekend Sirius radio show ‘The Foxxhole,’ judging by an audio posted on YouTube. During a discussion criticizing Miley, 16, for being upset at not getting to meet Radiohead backstage at the Grammys, Foxx, 41, told her to get a gum transplant and to ‘grow up… Get like Britney Spears and do some heroin… get some crack in your pipe… Catch chlamydia on a bicycle seat.” the aforementioned publication writes of the actor’s on-air outburst. The entire tirade was, as noted above, posted on YouTube.

Like the kid on the video, I agree. Come on Foxx, this is a teenage girl. They spout out stuff without thinking. They aren’t adults yet. You on the other hand are. The comments you fired off are not becoming of a man who has a child of the same age. Would you want another adult man saying that to your daughter?

Someone here needs to grow up and it isn’t a 16-year-old. She still has time that is scheduled in for that. That is as long as she doesn’t ruin her life taking your advice.

North Korea Kicks Out Nuclear Inspectors

North Korea has ordered International Atomic Energy inspectors out of the nation Tuesday. Thus ends the monitoring of a research reactor at Yongbyon. In theory the reactor is capable of reprocessing fuel rods to make plutonium.
It’s been an ongoing battle between the world and North Korea since October over the use of the Experimental Nuclear Reactor Plant and the Nuclear Fuel Fabrication Plant at Yongbyon.

IAEA received a statement from North Korea on Tuesday that the nation was ceasing cooperation with the IAEA and that the agency was to remove its containment and surveillance equipment. This follows an announcement that North Korea plans to reactivate all of its nuclear facilities and resume production of nuclear fuel.

International Business Times published the statement sent out from the DPRK Foreigh Ministry on Tuesday.

“First, the DPRK resolutely rejects the unjust action taken by the UNSC wantonly infringing upon the sovereignty of the DPRK and seriously hurting the dignity of the Korean people.

“Second, there would be no need to hold six-party talks which the DPRK has attended.

“Now that the six-party talks have turned into a platform for infringing upon the sovereignty of the DPRK and seeking to force the DPRK to disarm itself and bring down the system in it the DPRK will never participate in the talks any longer nor it will be bound to any agreement of the six-party talks.

“Third, the DPRK will bolster its nuclear deterrent for self-defense in every way.

“It will take the measure for restoring to their original state the nuclear facilities which had been disabled under the agreement of the six-party talks and putting their operation on a normal track and fully reprocess the spent fuel rods churned out from the pilot atomic power plant as part of it.”

It is expected that U.S. experts and monitors for IAEA will leave North Korea before the end of the week.

On Monday the United Nations Security Council adopted a nonbinding presidential statement condemning Pyongyang’s April 5 rocket launch as a violation of a resolution banning the country from all missile activity and demanding no further launches.

North Korea maintains that the rocket was to send a satellite into space. Japan, the United States and other countries believe that the launch was a cover for a long-range ballistic missile test.

Kyodo News reports:

”North Korea’s announced threat to withdraw from the six-party talks and restart its nuclear program is a serious step in the wrong direction,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said at a news briefing.
”North Korea will not find acceptance by the international community unless it verifiably abandons its pursuit of nuclear weapons,” he said.

North Korea is carrying though earlier threats that it would withdraw from international disarmament talks if the UN criticized the launch.

The Toronto Star reports:

“The six-party talks have lost the meaning of their existence, never to recover,” the North’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement, declaring it would never participate in the talks again and is no longer bound to previous agreements.

No Angels singer arrested for having unprotected sex

A member of the German pop group No Angels was arrested for allegedly having unprotected sex even though she knew she was HIV positive.
The singer, Nadja Benaissa is accused of having unprotected sex with three men from 2004 to 2006. One of the men has since tested positive for HIV.

Benaissa was arrested in Frankfurt on Saturday. She was there to give a solo performance.

No Angels is a German band that gained popularity after winning a TV talent competition in 2000. No Angels has sold over 5 million records. The band split up in December 2003 but reformed in 2007. They finished last at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest where they represented Germany with their song Disappear.

Benaissa has been charged with dangerous bodily harm. She is being detained because the judge believes that she would repeat the alleged charge if she would be released. She could face up to 10 years in prison if she is convicted.

Khalid Schroeder, manager of No Angels, refused to comment.

Ethanol May Require More Water

Ethanol derived from corn requires much more water than was previously thought, according to a study by the researchers at the University of Minnesota. That water need also differs greatly from state to state depending on regional irrigation needs.
Prior studies had said that the water needed to convert one liter of corn-derived into fuel at all stages should be 263 to 784 liters, the newer study changes that theory. It states that 5 to 2,138 liters of water per liter of ethanol will be needed.

That’s a vast difference that could make the production a bigger problem than other issues which have arisen. Environmental concerns from pollution from fertilizer to greenhouse-gas emission from the production of the ethanol could be a deterrent for the product.

There is also the concern that the corn needed would be competing for food crops.

Technology Review reports on the new study out in the journal Environmental Science and Technology:

“Ethanol consumes more water over time as corn production extends to regions that need extensive irrigation,” says Sangwon Suh, an assistant professor of biosystems engineering at the University of Minnesota and coauthor of the study. “That means more water is needed to produce a given unit of ethanol over time.”

Considering that ethanol uses more energy to be produce than it releases may leave this fuel as a dead end.

Even as the new information comes into play The U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 mandates that ethanol production increase from 34 billion liters in 2008 to 57 billion liters by 2015.

Jerry Schnoor of the University of Iowa, in Iowa City, says that ethanol producers are already planning additional production facilities in all states to meet the 2015 goals. “We’re already in an unsustainable situation in terms of water use, already drawing down aquifers like the Ogallala,” Schnoor says of the vast underground water source stretching from South Dakota to northern Texas. “This would exacerbate that decline if we expand in these irrigation states.”

Ethanol’s answer may become finding ways to make the fuel with alternative products like grass, wood and sawdust says Jerald L. Schnoor.

The study was funded in part by the Department of Energy and the state of Minnesota.

Study Shows Facebook Users Have Lower GPAs

Using Facebook may not be the best thing for students according to a survey of college students. It seems that those on Facebook tend to have lower grades than those not on the social network.
The survey asked 219 Ohio State students only about Facebook leaving out other social networking sites. The study was comprised of 102 undergraduates and 117 graduates during the summer and fall quarters of 2008. There were 148 Facebook accounts among those in the study.

While the study can not link the use of the social network to dumbing down students it does question how students on the site use their non-classroom time.

Live Science reports:

“I’m just saying that there’s some kind of relationship there, and there’s many third variables that need to be studied,” said Aryn Karpinski, an education researcher at Ohio State University.

Aryn Karpinski, a doctoral student at Ohio State does not use Facebook herself.

The study found that those on Facebook had GPAs in the 3.0 to 3.5 range on average compared to 3.5 to 4.0 averages of non-users. Facebook users tended to study less than the other students by six to ten hours. And who uses Facebook the most in university? More science, technology, engineering, math and business majors are updating their profiles than those in the social sciences and the humanities.

The study showed that those who worked at jobs tended to be on Facebook less than those involved in other extracurricular activities.

Computer World reports:

“There may be other factors involved, such as personality traits, that link Facebook use and lower grades,” she added. “It may be that if it wasn’t for Facebook, some students would still find other ways to avoid studying and would still get lower grades. But perhaps the lower GPAs could actually be because students are spending too much time socializing online.”

More undergrads (85 percent) are on the social network than grad students (52 percent).

Karpinski was bemused that students rose to defend their online activities. She took pains to make sure that the survey did not have a positive nor a negative bias. While Karpinski says her research was not biased she was not surprised at the results. She is quoted by Time.com:

“Maybe [Facebook users] are just prone to distraction. Maybe they are just procrastinators,” Karpinski told TIME.com in a phone interview on Monday.

The research will be presented at the annual meeting of the American Education Research Association on April 16.

The Canadian Press reports:

Katherine Giroux-Bougard, national chair of the Canadian Federation of Students, said the site has been a great tool in promoting activities on campus, and helps keep students engaged with issues they wouldn’t necessarily hear about elsewhere.

Robyn Gibson Seeking Divorce From Husband Mel

Mel Gibson’s wife Robyn has filed for divorce after 28 years of marriage at the Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday. She cited “irreconcilable differences” as to the reason for the divorce.
Just weeks ago tabloids had a field day when Gibson was photographed with Oksana, a Russian woman, during holiday. Mrs. Gibson who had in the past stood beside her husband though thick and thin seems to have finally had enough.

The recent rumors aren’t the first for Oksana and Mel. Last August the pair were photographed leaving his trailer on the set of Edge of Darkness.’ Gibson denied having an affair.

Though it may appear that the couple split over Mel playing the field, the reality is they separated on August 26, 2006. That coincides with the DUI arrest where Gibson made anti-Semitic slurs at the police.

The Daily Mail reports:

The incident definitely took a toll on his marriage,’ an acquaintance of the actor told the Daily Mail last night.

‘Robyn was humiliated by the fallout from that incident, as was his entire family. Mel never thought there was anything inappropriate about his relationships with other women.

‘In his mind, it was perfectly natural to have female friends – even if they were beautiful and often far younger than him. It was something his wife needed to deal with as far as he was concerned.’

Mel Gibson issued a statement on Monday reports WELT Online.

“Throughout our marriage and separation we have always strived to maintain the privacy and integrity of our family and will continue to do so.”

Mel and Robyn Gibson have seven children together. Their youngest is Thomas, 9. They married in 1980 just after “Mad Max” was released. Under United States law Robyn stand to be awarded half of Gibson’s £640 million fortune. The Gibson’s own a Catholic Church, a private island on Fiji, a ranch in Costa Rica and several properties in Malibu.

Robyn Gibson is seeking joint custody and spousal support along with legal fees. The couple did not have a prenuptial agreement.

Marilyn Chambers Dead At 56

Former model and porn star Marilyn Chambers was found in her Canyon Country home dead on Sunday night. The actress was 56.
Chambers was a former Ivory Snow model. Chamber’s daughter found her mother’s body at the family home. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Chambers started her porn career in 1972. Chambers is best known for her roles in “Deep Throat” which is worked with Linda Lovelace and her breakout movie “Behind the Green Door”. Her films had actual acting in them instead of the porn norm of the day.

Chambers was barely struggling to make ends meet as an exotic dancer in San Francisco when she answered an ad from the paper seeking actresses for a ‘major’ motion picture. She went and filled out an application before finding out that the movie was pornographic.

The LA Times reports:

“I thought I’d take a shot,” she explained in a 1977 interview with the Los Angeles Times. “I was intrigued by the story. I really liked the fantasy involved. And I figured it might be my last chance at something really big.”

Her modeling career came to an abrupt end when her first movie “Behind the Green Door” was revealed to have the Ivory Snow model, whose products were touted to be “99 44/100% pure” showing all of her assets.

AP reports:

“She was the first crossover adult star. She was the Ivory Snow girl and when she decided to make an adult movie that was big news,” Steven Hirsch, co-CEO of adult filmmaker Vivid Entertainment Group, told The Associated Press on Monday.

“It was the first adult movie that was more than just a bunch of sex scenes,” Hirsch said of her breakthrough film. “She was an actress and she brought that ability to the set of ‘Behind the Green Door.’ That’s part of what made that movie so successful.”

Chambers still acted. Her last appearance was in Victor Franko’s low-budget independent movie “Solitaire.” The PG-rated film has yet to be released.

Ms. Chambers is survived by her daughter, McKenna Marie Taylor, her brother Bill Briggs and sister Jann Smith.

The cause of Chambers death has not been revealed but the police say that foul play was not suspected. An autopsy is pending.

Florida Seeking Death Penalty in Casey Anthony Case

Florida is seeking the death penalty in the case of Casey Anthony for the murder of her young daughter Caylee Marie. The trial is set to begin this fall.
The notice for the death penalty was filed Monday afternoon. The filing states that “sufficient aggravating circumstances exist to justify the imposition of the Death Penalty.”

Marti Mackenzie, spokeswoman for Anthony’s defense lawyer, just told the Orlando Sentinel: “This is not a death penalty case. We will do whatever is necessary to defend Casey Anthony from the state trying to take her life. We already have death qualified defense lawyers on our team and are prepared for a vigorous defense.”

It’s a risky move, in Florida juries rarely convict when a woman is on trial with the death penalty as the sentence.

Only two women have been executed in Florida, Judias Goodyear Buenoano and Aileen C. Wuornos. There is only one woman who sits on death row in the state, Tiffany Cole. She was convicted of the double murder of a Jacksonville couple.

Phil Spector convicted for Lana Clarkson’s death

Music heavy-weight Phil Spector has been convicted of second-degree murder in the death of Lana Clarkson six years ago. The jury took nine days of deliberations to convict Spector.
The music producer is said to have listened to the verdict in silence in a Los Angeles courtroom. He was remanded into custody until his sentencing on May 29.

The Beatles, the Righteous Brothers and Ike and Tina Turner are among the greats that Spector has worked with as a producer. He was often said to be a bully in the studio with a love of guns and an unusual personality.

Witnesses during the course of his murder trial told of being threatened at gunpoint as far back as the 1970’s.

A previous trial had resulted in a deadlocked jury.

Spector could face up to 18 years in prison when the judge announces his sentence.

The trial began in October with the prosecution portraying Spector as a sadistic misogynist.

Naheet Wins Top Prize On Reality TV Poet Contest

In Saudi Arabia there’s a new type of reality TV, poetry competitions ala American Idol. This year’s winner is 34-year-old Ziyad Hijab bin Naheet.
Naheet performed in front of an audience of 2,000 in studio and 17 million in front of their televisions to bring home the top prize of $1,361,207.64. Naheet is a Nabati poet. Nabati poetry is an ancient form of storytelling in verse. It is recited in tribal dialects unlike other forms of classic Arab poetry.

The Global Post reports:

“It’s the most famous genre of poetry in the Gulf,” explained Muhammad Ayish, a professor of communications at the University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, the seven-state nation nestled between Saudi Arabia and Oman.

Arab’s are one of the first cultures to perform the Spoken Word in the form of poetry. It has always been an important part of the culture.

The show “Million’s Poet” has been a huge success. The elders are pleased that the younger generation is seeing that poetry is being preserved with the young. The show is Abu Dhabi TV’s highest rated prime time show. The contestants recite their own poetry written in the Nabati style. The poetry form dates back to the fourth century.

The studio audience is segregated with men and women sitting in different areas. Women who are performing however at with the men they compete against.

The Guardian reports:

“When we designed this show we had in mind the grandness of Who Wants to be a Millionaire and the suspense of Pop Idol, ” says Nashwa Al Ruwaini, Millions’ Poets producer and head of the show’s production company, Pyramedia. “The idea was to create a new format that would appeal to this part of the world without offending this part of the world.”

Regional governments are very active in reviving Nabati poetry. Poetry festivals are becoming popular.
At Dubai International Poetry Festival 2009 audiences listened to poems that were translated to various languages as well as dialects.

The Saudi Gazette quotes Jamal Huwaireb, chairman of the recent event:

“We want to help break that translation barrier,” he said. The organizing committee has called on poet-translators to contribute to the noble cause of making poetry available in many different languages. The festival has also launched the Translator Poet Award which goes to the one who provides an accurate translation of own poems in other languages, including Arabic. With that, Dubai has rightly “earned the title of the world city of poetry,” Huwaireb said.

Global Post quotes the star of the hour, Naheet.

“All of royalty loves it,” Naheet said.

“It’s unacceptable for someone to stand up and say ‘I love you,’” he explained. “Whereas to use the channel of poetry to convey praise, loyalty and love, it’s acceptable.”

Shigeo Tokudo Keeps It Up, Japan’s Oldest Porn Star

It could be said that Shigeo Tokuda, 75, is a lucky man. On Monday he was relaxing on a movie set waiting to have sex with a woman young enough to be his daughter. Tokuda is Japanese oldest porn star.
The senior citizen started his new role in life at the age of 59 and has since heated up the screen in over 200 movies. He wanted to prove that an older man could still set the sheets on fire.

Tokuda may not be using his college education as he uses whips, vibrators and candles in his latest unscripted film but it’s sure more interesting than being a travel agent.

Shigeo Tokuda isn’t the kindly looking older gent’s real name. That he prefers to keep under wraps. He’s famous enough that his name is a brand, the Shigeo Tokuda series that he has recently finished filming shows a tactful gentleman who is a teacher of erotic arts.

Time reports:

“The adult-video industry is very competitive,” says Glory Quest p.r. representative Kayoko Iimura. “If we only make standard fare, we cannot beat other studios. There were already adult videos with Lolitas or themes of incest, so we wanted to make something new. A relationship between wife and an old father-in-law has enough twist to create an atmosphere of mystery and captivate viewers’ hearts.”

He turned to the porn industry because of his lack of interest in the story lines of the pornos he had watched. That lack of spark led to a discussion about whether he could do a better job.

It took him a few more years because he unbuttoned his pants. Once he first stepped out of his trousers he
seemingly hasn’t put them back on for long.

Reuters reports:

“Other old men think they can do it because he can. The elderly can feel secure and encouragement when they see his films,” said Gaichi Kono, the director of Tokuda’s latest film.

His wife and daughter have no idea what dad’s been up to. They’ll have to continue to be in the dark for a few more years, Tokuda plans on keeping the babes in porno land busy until he turns 80.

Tokuda’s part time employer is Ruby Productions. They figured out early that an aging population needed a hero aging stud. They are currently trying to market Tokuda’s films in retirement homes. There is already a deal in the works to ship his flicks to the United States.

Amazon accused of censoring books by removing gay titles

Amazon has dropped gay titles from search results. Is the self imposed censorship from Amazon or is it a glitch in the software program the company is using?
Amazon.com has been accused of censoring books with gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual themes.

An Internet fury was started on Sunday when writer Mark R. Probst wrote about the news on a blog. After contacting Amazon and being told that the books were now classified as ‘adult’ titles.” Mark Wagner warns that the action could be a result of a software glitch on Information Weekly.

Indeed, an Amazon spokeswoman said late Sunday that the change was a “glitch” in their software, they’re fixing it, and they’re still trying to figure out what’s going on. Even in text, she sounded tired.

My prediction: By the end of the day Monday, we’ll find out this is, indeed, a software glitch. Or maybe some bigoted middle manager got too big for his britches. I am confident that this is not a reflection of Amazon policy.

Queerty is one site that isn’t buying the ’software glitch’ excuse. Amazon sent out a statement to the site:

“We recently discovered a glitch to our Amazon sales rank feature that is in the process of being fixed. We’re working to correct the problem as quickly as possible.”

According to the article’s author running a search on homosexuality on Amazon brings up A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality first. When Digital Journal typed the same word in it indeed brought up the book title first. Most of the first ten book shown indeed were of a religious theme.

Mark Probst, the author who started the furor received an email from Amazon after he asked two weeks ago why his gay-themed romance books were removed from the listings.

“In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude “adult” material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature.

Hence, if you have further questions, kindly write back to us.

Best regards,
Ashlyn D
Member Services
Amazon.com Advantage”

The titles are still on the site, they have just been delisted. Amazon reports CNET has simply excluded ‘adult’ material from appearing on some searches and best sellers lists.

After a weekend of Twitters flying back and forth, one has to wonder if Amazon will take a hit over this matter? In times of economic crisis, any help can be devastating.

Scare Tactics or Facts? New Ad Campaign Against Obesity in UK

Did the Department of Health in the UK try to scare mothers from giving their children sweets? The agency recently spent 500,000 pounds to place two adverts in women’s weekly magazines that made treats look like a demon meal.
The ads are part of a £75 million program to help slim the public’s waistline. It now has critics throughout the country including the National Obesity Forum.

Mothers are objecting to the message that giving their children a treat now and then is leading their young to a premature death.

The Taxpayers Alliance isn’t thrilled about the spots either. They are saying that people are not happy that the government is using their hard owned tax dollars to bash them about the way they live their lives.

The Telegraph reports:

Tam Fry, from the National Obesity Forum described the initiative as sending out “an absolutely ludicrous message”.

“The idea that a cupcake will kill you is totally over the top, and for that reason the whole thing is totally counterproductive.

“Obviously cakes have to be an occasional treat, but the idea that a healthy child eating a cupcake at a party is dicing with death is absolutely crazy. Parents will switch off,” he said.

The Department of Health has reason though to target mothers with their ads.

The Guardian reports:

“Early signs show that we may be halting the rise in childhood obesity,” said the public health minister, Dawn Primarolo. “But there’s still more to do in particular to tackle obesity in adults.

“More than 60% of adults in England are overweight or obese, leaving them at increased risk of type two diabetes, cancer, heart and liver disease.”

The truth is that the UK is in an obesity crisis and the young will be paying the ultimate costs later on. With many parents in denial about the health risks that their children’s waistlines can pose there may have to be drastic steps taken. Obesity in the UK is increasing. In 2006 almost 30 percent of children under the age of 16 were classed as obese or overweight. The adults are doing even worse, 67 per cent of men and 56 per cent of women were listed as overweight or obese.

A government survey found that many of the 1,200 parents questioned were in denial about their children being overweight.

The Change4Life campaign has been in full swing since the beginning of the year.

Food Navigator reports:

“We have already made progress on things like labeling and fat and salt content working with the industry. But … if this three-year campaign does not succeed, we don’t rule out regulating in future,” health minister Ben Bradshaw is quoted as saying.

The Department of Health is backing their campaign saying that its based on extensive research. A spokesman said that the ads are not using scare tactics just “straightforward language” and pointed out that obesity costs the NHS £4.2 billion a year. The ads are being backed by Diabetes UK, Cancer Research UK and The British Heart Foundation.

BBC reports:

Health Secretary Alan Johnson said: “The message that we received from parents was clear – we recognize that obesity is a big problem, but it’s not our problem.”

Studies also show that parents are having a hard time understanding all of the literature and information that is being handed them about feeding their children in a healthy manner.

With a more fast paced life style convenience foods are becoming the norm. Britain’s consumption of ready made meals is doubling that of France and six times higher than Spain. It could be to due with the fact that 80% of homes in the UK have a microwave while other European homes don’t have the appliance as often.

Kids in the UK are consuming an increasing about of soft drinks, crisps and savory snacks, fast food and pre-sugared breakfast cereals. Research suggests that while many mothers think they know what a healthy diet is, they are at a loss as to how to make this attractive to their children.

5 Dead In Florida Boat Accident

Five people are dead and seven more were injured today after a boat in Florida slammed into a docked tug boat near Saint Augustine Sunday evening.
The accident occurred about 7 p.m. on the Intracoastal Waterway in St. Johns County about 20 miles northwest of St. Augustine.

Three of those injured on the pleasure boat were airlifted to hospital. All seven have been taken to area hospitals.

there were twelve people aboard the pleasure boat when it crashed into the tug.

The dock where the accident took place was under construction. Planking had to be laid by rescuers before they could get to the injured people on the boat.

It is not believed that anyone was on the tugboat at the time of the accident. The tug boat is registered to F&A Enterprises in St. Augustine.

Massive Fire Destroys Homes at Alton Bay Christian Center

Easter will be known as the day that 40 New Hampshire summer homes burnt to the ground. The homes were part of a 146-year-old Christian center. The center was founded along New Hampshire’s biggest lake in 1863.
The fire started at 4:30 pm Sunday when families were celebrating at their homes away from the summer home area. The homes were all cottage seasonal homes that go unoccupied during much of the year.
Services had not yet started at the Alton Bay Christian Conference Center on Lake Winnipesaukee.

Witnesses watched from across the lake as the houses burnt to the ground in just minutes.

AP reports:

“As I was looking across the bay, I could see 600 feet of flame lengthwise,” John Lobdell told the News 9 television station in Manchester. “The whole entire camp ground looked like it was up in flames.”

There were no injuries to civilians according to state Fire Marshal William Degnan. One firefighter was hurt when a propane heater exploded. Others have been treated gor smoke inhalation and exhaustion. The fire was reported to be under control by 8:30 pm.

The cause of the fire has yet to be determined.

Obama May Have Just Started The Pizza Wars

President Barack Obama loves Chris Sommers’s way of making a pizza pie. So much so that the man was flown to the White House this week to whip a few pizzas up for the First Family. The news isn’t making those in Chicago that happy.
Sommers is from St. Louis. When President Obama was campaigning last year in his town he happened upon Pi’s Pizza in the Delmar Loop where the pies are made and loved them.

This week Sommers boarded a plane with 20 pounds of dough and three gallons of pizza sauce to cook his specialty at the White House kitchen. Sommers was serving up his pie to 140 guests Friday night.

The Sun quotes Sommers:

Chris was due to cook lunch at the White House yesterday, reported People.com. He said: “It’s surreal. It’s a huge honour.”

He made have made folks outside of Chicago happy but those in the windy city aren’t really sure about this ‘foreign policy.’ As Politico quotes Marc Malnati, owner of 30 Lou Malnati’s Pizzerias across the Chicago area.

“I like his economic policy — I think he’s going to get us out of trouble. I like his foreign policy — he’s making friends around the world. His pizza policy is going to have to change.”

Providence Woman Accused Of Cyber-Stalking

A Providence, Rhode Island business owner has been accused of cyber-stalking a business competitor. The woman has allegedly been calling the other business woman places to have place call it day and night.
Owner of Bruna Puppets and Costumes, Bruno filled out applications in Tracy Sisson’s name which resulted in the woman having harassing phone calls. Sisson owns Absolute Fun Party Rentals in Cranston.

The pair have been feuding since 2001 when Sisson was not satisfied with a costume that Bruno had made for her business.

The phone calls after Sisson had arranged her mortgage through Able Financial Services. When Bruno was hired Sissons told her boss that she was uncomfortable working with Bruno and planned to leave. Bruno was laid off.

Ann Bruno, 59, is said to have used a computer at the local library several times a week to sign the other woman up for debt relief programs and the like. The misdemeanor charge was issued after she was caught in the act at the public library. Her court case is set for April 14.

When reporters asked the woman about the charges she donned a bunny head to do the interview.

Why Did Vanessa Die?

Canadian Terence Young has been on a mission. He wants to know how it is possible his 15-year-old daughter dropped dead in front of him March 19, 2000. Oakville’s MP believes the answer is a medication that their family doctor prescribed.
Prepulsid is used to aid digestion. It has been linked to irregular heartbeats, heart attacks and sudden death. Most of those that have died from heart related issues have been taking other medications or have underlying risk conditions.

The coroner’s inquest said that Vanessa died from cardiac arrhythmia followed by cardiac arrest, resulting from the effects of bulimia nervosa in combination with Cisapride toxicity and perhaps an unknown condition like a congenital heart defect.

In July 2000 Janssen Pharmaceutica stopped making Prepulsid voluntarily. In August Health Canada pulled the drug from drug store shelves following a decision “founded on the association of the drug with serious cardiac arrhythmias … and sudden cardiac deaths.”

There were about one million prescriptions written for the drug each year prior to 2000 in Canada.

Young founded the advocacy group Drug Safety Canada. In January 2007 an Ontario judge certified a $100 million class-action lawsuit, initiated by Young, against the drug’s maker, Johnson & Johnson and its Canadian subsidiary, Janssen-Ortho Inc., which marketed Prepulsid in this country.

This week Young’s book Death By Prescription will hit book store shelves.

His life changed that March night when his daughter collapsed.

The Toronto Star quotes Young:

“She fell back, like a giant hand pushed her – whack – onto the floor,” Young recalls.

As his daughter died his family changed. He changed. His brother Scott Denton said that it is hard to know who he truly was prior to Vanessa’s death. The family knows now. Young is a tiger who will not stop when a wrong has been done.

Had someone apologized for Vanessa’s death Young may have never fought as hard. No one though, not the doctor, not the drug company, the government, would say it was their fault. Vanessa was a statistic, nothing more, nothing less.

Young reached out to the media in his quest for an answer. He studied texts, called drug companies, exchanged emails with experts. He pushed to have the coroner’s inquest for his daughter.

To the powers that be Vanessa may have been a statistic, but her father would not sit back and allow her death to go in vain.

The jury listened for 16 days about Vanessa. She had been diagnosed with bulimia nervosa, one of the conditions that Prepulsid is not recommended for. One that the drug comany said that Canadian doctors had been sent a warning about two months prior to Vanessa’s death.

Last week a statement was sent to Toronto Star from the manufacturer Janssen-Orthro Inc.:

“ongoing litigation limits our ability to comment on specific issues related to this matter.” Calling Vanessa’s death “a tragedy,” it said: “Following efforts by the Company to ensure that Prepulsid was being prescribed and used appropriately, in the summer of 2000 the sale of Prepulsid was discontinued. “Janssen-Ortho believes that Prepulsid is a safe and effective medicine when prescribed appropriately. Patient safety is a priority for our company. We conduct ourselves in a way that meets or exceeds regulatory requirements.”

That statement though differs from the research that Young has worked on while writing Death By Prescription. He claims that drug companies will do everything they can to keep a drug on the shelves.

Doctors in his opinion rely to heavily on the information that the drug companies give them about their wares. They remain silent far too often about the side effects.

Young also has contended that the government closes their eyes to the problems. He wants to change that for all Canadians.

The Oakville Beaver quotes Young:

“The overall goal is to reduce the number of injuries and deaths related to prescription drugs, which are the fourth leading cause of death in our society,” said Young.

“These deaths are mostly covered up and hidden. We want to shine a light on the risks so patients and families can make themselves safer when using prescription drugs.”

Young believes that his book will save lives. The knowledge that you need to know about the medications you put into your body may be one of the most important life lessons a person can learn.

Over 750,000 people in the United States die every year from the drugs that their doctors prescribe to them. The high stakes that drug companies play to keep money pouring in can put people at risk. Side effects are not often discussed when a doctor prescribes a new medication. Often the doctor is not even aware of some of those side effects. Patients have to become their own advocate when it comes to their prescription medications and take the time to research if the side effects are a potential danger. One way is to talk to the pharmacist about each medication you are on and ask what are the risks and side effects to be aware of.

Hamas Bomb Factory Discovered Under Mosque In West Bank

Palestinian security officials reported Sunday that they have discovered a Hamas bomb factory under a mosque in the West Bank.
There have been several people detained by Fatah-led Palestinian security for questioning.

The discovery is likely to increase the tensions between Hamas and Fatah loyalists. The two factions have been in a feud since June 2007 when the Islamist Hamas were kicked out of Gaza by the Fatah loyalists.

News 24 reports:

“Security forces found a bomb-making factory inside a mosque in Qalqiliya,” an Interior Ministry statement said. “Many of the bombs were ready to use and many of them were of industrial grade.”

The factory was located in a mosque in Qalqiliya. The bombs were ready to use and of industrial quality.

Polar Bear Chomps On Zoo Patron In Germany

Zoo keepers are being credited for saving a life at Berlin Zoo after a woman jumped into a polar bear exhibit at the Berlin Zoo. The woman climbed over the fence and jumped into the animals habitat during their feeding time.
The woman was bitten by one of the four adult polar bears while still in the water several times.

Zoo workers tossed rescue rings towards the woman to help her escape as the bear swam close to her.

She is being treated at hospital for the bites. Police do not know why the woman climbed into the enclosure.

Last year a man who stated afterward that he was lonely went into the same enclosure. At that time the zoo keepers used large chunks of raw beef to divert the beers in his rescue.

The Telegraph reports:

“The woman has proved herself to be careless by jumping into the enclosure,” a police spokesman said afterwards. “Logic tells us that polar bears will do this type of thing in this situation.”

Polar bears have become endangered because of climate change. They are the world’s largest land predators. Native to the Arctic they live in the U.S. (Alaska), Canada, Russia, Denmark (Greenland), and Norway.

The only predator of the polar bear is man. The fact is a polar bear can take a man without a gun out easily with a quick swipe of the paw.They are not cuddly little teddy bears.

Fewer Subs- Polk County Florida Looking To Cut School Costs

Polk County students in Florida may see some important people in their classrooms instead of the regular substitute teacher.
In an effort to save money school officials are thinking about using district employees who are not educators instead of coughing up $80 for a sub.

This plan would save the school board about $50,000 of the budget if each of the 620 employees who are qualified to teach fill in one day out of the year.

Principals are also being given the option to spilt up classes and move students elsewhere when a teacher is ill.

Each school has their own substitute budget. The size of the budget depends on the number of students registered there.

There isn’t a shortage of people wanting to be substitute teachers. Since last July the county has had 2,252 applications. Once the county has a list of 1,250 substitute teachers they stop hiring each year. To be a substitute teacher in Polk County one has to be 18 years old and have at least 30 hours of college credit.

If the new plan of using available employees as resource teachers passes there will be a smaller substitute teacher hiring this coming year.

Sex Ratio In China As Boys Outnumber Girls By 35 Million

China is in a crisis with over 32 million more boys born than girls. A new report is showing that China will continue to see the high differences in sex ratio worsen even more over the next twenty years.
The report was published online by the British Medical Journal.

At this point China can not escape its fate of a failed “one-child” policy. Parents who defy the law have to pay fines and pay a steep price for their children’s education.

Because of the shortages some of the provinces do allow a second child if the first is a girl or if the parents are having a ‘hardship.’

World Net Daily reports:

“If you’ve got highly sexed young men, there is a concern that they will all get together and, with high levels of testosterone, there may be a real risk, that they will go out and commit crimes,” said Hesketh, a lecturer at University College in London.

It is routine for Chinese families to opt for abortion when they find that they are expecting a girl. Chinese mothers have early access to ultrasound diagnostics and abortion. China’s laws do not expressly prohibit or even define late-term termination. That infanticide while illegal is speculated to be in the hundreds of millions. Families who want a son will abandon their infant daughters on the side of the road to die. There have been reports that some families will even go to the black market to buy a child that at times has been stolen.

The average number of children in Chinese families has fallen from 5.9 to 1.7 during the past forty years.

In 2005 alone China had more than 1.1 million excess male births according to the authors of the report Zhejiang university professors Wei Xing Zhu and Li Lu and Therese Hesketh of University College London/

“This large reduction in the fertility rate, whether by choice or by coercion, has inevitably increased the male to female ratio because of the preference for sons and the availability of contraception and sex selective measures.”

Because of the huge sex ratio millions of men will not be able to find a partner. The review assessed the populations in all 2,861 of China’s counties.

“Overall sex ratios were high across all age groups and residency types, but they were highest in the 1-4 years age group, peaking at 126 … in rural areas. Six provinces had sex ratios of over 130 in the 1-4 age group. The sex ratio at birth was close to normal for first order births but rose steeply for second order births, especially in rural areas, where it reached 146 (143 to 149). Nine provinces had ratios of over 160 for second order births,” the report said.

“Sex selective abortion accounts for almost all the excess males,” it said.

There have been reports that the shortage of women has already made an impact on crime in China. Many Chinese men are buying foreign wives according to the World Health Organization. The going price for Burmese women is between $600 and $2,400.

Because the low chance of being able to find a partner future males in the Chinese society may lead to antisocial behavior and violence, threatening societal stability and security.

While females will be able to ‘marry up’ from their social standing males in lower socio-economic situations will be less likely to find a mate.
Because of this it there will likely be an increased rate of violence in play against females.

Females could become even more of a commodity where there value will be controlled by the males in their families.

South Korea had the same problem in 1992. That year they had a 229-to-100 gender imbalance. The nation quickly used a public-awareness campaign and enforced laws on general selection. The policy appears to have worked, in 2004 the gender balance had righted itself out to 110 male births to 100 female.

Malia and Sasha Can Hang Out With First Dog On Tuesday

On Tuesday the First Dog will take his first steps into the White House and on the White House lawn. The Kennedy family will be presenting the doggy to the Obama family. Total photo op moments will ensue.
The Portuguese Water Dog is coming from his breeder after the first owners gave him back. For political purposes though Senator Ted Kennedy’s family will be handing over the-6 month-old pup formerly known as Charlie.

Believe it or not there is a ton of red tape over this little pup. The kennel is ‘re-homing’ the puppy to the Obama’s. But, and this is a huge but that’s just not kosher with the rules and regulations so the Kennedy’s will be giving the pup over. The pup is actually in the same linage as three of the Kennedy family pets.

The Obama’s had said they wanted to rescue a dog from a shelter not a kennel.

The Recession Hits Shriners Hospitals Hard

They help the helpless but if the recession keeps on track Shriners may have to pull out of the hospital business within five years.
As the charity endowments shrink, the cost for care increases and donations leak instead of pour in the Shriners, based out of Florida may have to close some or all of their 22 hospitals across the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The fund for the endowment has fallen to just $5 billion from the $8 billion it was at just a year ago. The slump has been going on longer than the recession though, since 2001 it has been declining.

This summer the group will gather and decide on the closing of the hospitals.

USA Today reports:

“Unless we do something, the clock is ticking and within five to seven years we’ll probably be out of the hospital business and not have any hospitals,” Ralph Semb, chief executive officer of Shriners Hospitals for Children, told The Associated Press.

The Shriners have been helping children since the doors first opened at the facility in Shreveport, Louisiana. At that time the need was polio care. By the 1960’s there were hospitals across the nation. Care expanded to include spinal cord injury rehabilitation, cleft lip and palate care and medical research.

More than a million children owe their lives to the hospitals.

In March the Shriners Board of Directors voted to close four of the group’s eight research centers and lay off about 40 people at its administrative office. On July 6-8 in San Antonio, Texas the annual meeting will convene. This year will be difficult as about 1,200 Shriners will vote on if its time to close their hospitals in Shreveport, La.; Erie, Pa.; Spokane, Wash.; Springfield, Mass., and Greenville.

Patients would still be treated at other Shriners hospitals that specialize in the illness or injury.

USA Today reports:

“The outlook is not good, but we know that we can right it,” Semb said. “And we can within a five-year period of time get our expenses down far enough to equal the income we have coming in and hopefully start building on that endowment fund.”

The Vancouver Police Sorry For Taking Press Camera

The Vancouver Police took a newspaper photographer’s camera last Sunday as the journalist snapped shots following a police shooting.
On Wednesday the police issued a statement about the incident as CBC reports:

“I am here this morning to advise you that the Vancouver Police Department has formally apologized to the Province newspaper for retaining the camera belonging to their photographer Jason Payne for longer than we should have,” Chief Jim Chu told reporters during a morning news briefing.

Canada.com reports that the police know better than to take cameras from the media.

“As police officers we know, or should know, that media personnel have special protections in law, and that a search warrant is the appropriate legal mechanism to seize such evidence from a media person in these circumstances,” said Chu. “Unfortunately, the constable was not given the appropriate advice by a senior officer.”

The camera was seized for about an hour when an officer believed it had pictures of police shooting a man as he tried to ram a police car with a stolen truck. The man was hit in and leg and suffered gun shot wounds.

Chu says that the police were unaware that the camera belonged to a member of the press.

The Calagary Herald was told Payne’s side of the story.

“They said I was obstructing justice and they were going to confiscate my camera as evidence. They ended up taking my camera from me. It was either that or be arrested,” he said.

“They were manhandling me,” he said. Payne was shocked.

Payne’s side of the story fits into what another witness recalled. A movie crew was witness to the events as they were filming close by. The best-boy on the production Nicholas-Kandie told the Calgary Herald.

“He was assaulted by the police. They had him in a lock hold and (Payne) had his foot on his camera,” trying to stop it from being taken, said Nicholas-Kandie.

The Editor-in-Chief at the Province, Wayne Moriarty said that he would be investigating the matter. He wants to know why his photographer had to endure what he called typical police bully tactics.

While Payne accepted the chief’s apology he denies that he did not identify himself as a member of the press.

“I appreciate the explanation that Chief Chu has presented but I reject his claim that I did not identify myself immediately as a press photographer for the Province newspaper,” said Payne, a news photographer for 16 years. “The first thing I did when the police attention was drawn to me was to tell them that I was a press photographer for the Province newspaper. I was there in an official capacity as a journalist and I reject that claim that I did not announce who I was immediately.”

Chu has told his officers since the incident that they do not have authority to take cameras from either the press or the public unless they have made an arrest, have a warrant or believe important evidence may be destroyed.

Police can easily track down images from the press but when it comes to the general public that is iffy. At times for investigative reasons those cameras can be taken for that reason.

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association has filed a formal complaint with the police board about the incident.

Canadian Journalists for Free Expression joins in with condemning the event.

CJFE calls upon the Vancouver police and police departments across the
country to ensure that their officers are given comprehensive training that
sets out the rights of the media. We also expect that police will be held
accountable if they flout these rights. CJFE looks forward to the results of
an internal investigation that the Vancouver police has indicated it will be
holding.

Murder-suicide at Henry Ford Community College Friday

A man killed a 20-year-old female student at Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn, Michigan Friday before killing himself.
The police have named Anthony Powell, 28, of Detroit as the gun man in Friday’s crime. Asia McGowan of Ecorse was a student at the college.

The school went into lock down after the shooting that happened in the Fine Arts Center.

The Detroit News reports:

“Everyone started running out of the building,” said Barhoumeh, a 21-year-old Dearborn Heights resident. “I just ran. I didn’t know if I was going to be the next target.”

Police responded shortly after noon on Friday to a report of shots fired. They entered a south hallway and heard one gunshot. Entering one of the classrooms they discovered both bodies. Ms. McGowen was alone at the time of the shooting.

Marjorie Swan, comptroller for the community college, thanked police and said: “Our hearts go out to the family and the friends of the young woman who lost her life today.”

The school made good use of their email alert program. All students using the program were quickly alerted to the incident and what to do.

The college released an e-mail shortly after the shooting to warn the campus of a lockdown. “We received an e-mail telling us to lock down our offices and classrooms,” said James Smith, a physics professor.

Interestingly a clue could be coming from Facebook about McCowan and Powell. Ms. McCowan had hundreds of friends on the social network site while Powell had two. He allegedly shot one of those two friends on Friday.

Classes for Friday were canceled.

The Boxmasters Cancel Canada Tour

Billy Bob Thornton has canceled the rest of his Canadian tour with his band, The Boxmasters, citing a bandmate’s sickness. The show goes on though with the headliner Willie Nelson.
The Boxmasters were set to open for Willie Nelson Friday night in Montreal. Instead of playing the gig the box office was called and told that only one of the opening acts would be performing.

The Boxmasters were also scheduled to play London, Ontario on Saturday but that is also going to be a no show. The band said some of the musicians came down the flu.

Thornton and his band faced booing fans booing in Toronto on Thursday night at Massey Hall. The boos came from an interview that Thornton and the Boxmasters had done earlier on the show show Q with host Jian Ghomeshi where he likened Canadians with mashed potatoes without gravy.

2 Canada reports:

“Boo all you want, but I want to say something,” Thornton told Toronto crowd. He then called Ghomeshi an “a-hole.”

Earlier the same day Thornton had told reporters that he loved Canada.

The band may have also taken offense to a bad review that they got in the Globe and Mail. Robert Everett-Green called the Thursday night performance one of the most amateurish performances he’s ever seen at Massey Hall.

Dave Arneson, Co-Creator of Dungeons and Dragons Dead at 61

Dave