http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/10/24/2828261/hearing-post/
By Igor Volsky on October 24, 2013
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Not only was Bush’s rollout “anything but smooth,” but administration officials had “some trouble getting the [online] tool up and running” and had to delay its debut for weeks. What’s more, computer glitches caused low-income beneficiaries to go without needed medications and sent pharmacies the wrong drug information. Before it was all resolved, Dr. Mark McClellan, Bush’s head of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), appeared at hearings before the House Committee On Energy And Commerce, laying out the flaws in the law’s implementation and detailing how the administration would address them.
As the House Energy and Commerce Committee holds its first hearing on the implementation of the the Affordable Care Act on Thursday, it’s worth noting that some of the very same Republicans who are lashing out against Obamacare, arguing that the botched rollout is proof that the government cannot implement effectively and should repeal the law entirely, gave the Bush administration a pass and urged Americans not to pre-judge such a complicated process. At least four of the Republicans still on the committee had argued that early implementation hurdles should not taint the entirety of reform:
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Saturday, October 26, 2013
The Number Of Homeless Students In The United States Hits A Record
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/10/24/2830651/homeless-students/
By Scott Keyes on October 24, 2013
More than 1.1 million students in the United States were homeless last year, a record high, according to new data released by the U.S. Department of Education.
During the 2011-12 school year, there were 1,168,354 homeless students enrolled in preschool or K-12, a 10 percent increase over the previous year. A total of 55.5 million students were enrolled in preschool or K-12 that year, meaning nearly 2 percent of all students were homeless.
According to First Focus, a children’s advocacy organization, “the number of homeless children in public schools has increased 72 percent since the beginning of the recession.” The states with the largest increase in student homelessness include North Dakota (212 percent), Maine (58 percent), and North Carolina (53 percent).
It’s important to note that the number of homeless students in the United States doesn’t capture the full extent of youth homelessness. Many young homeless people are infants, weren’t properly identified as homeless by the survey, or have dropped out (or been kicked out) of school.
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the situation could soon become even worse if food stamps are cut. Currently, 45 percent of food stamp recipients are children. In 2011 alone, 4.7 million households were lifted out of poverty thanks to food stamps. If Republicans succeed in their quest to cut the program, the number of children living in poverty would increase substantially. And even if the GOP is held at bay, automatic cuts to food stamps will kick in on November 1, returning the program to pre-stimulus levels and likely resulting in even more homeless students in the wealthiest country in the world.
By Scott Keyes on October 24, 2013
More than 1.1 million students in the United States were homeless last year, a record high, according to new data released by the U.S. Department of Education.
During the 2011-12 school year, there were 1,168,354 homeless students enrolled in preschool or K-12, a 10 percent increase over the previous year. A total of 55.5 million students were enrolled in preschool or K-12 that year, meaning nearly 2 percent of all students were homeless.
According to First Focus, a children’s advocacy organization, “the number of homeless children in public schools has increased 72 percent since the beginning of the recession.” The states with the largest increase in student homelessness include North Dakota (212 percent), Maine (58 percent), and North Carolina (53 percent).
It’s important to note that the number of homeless students in the United States doesn’t capture the full extent of youth homelessness. Many young homeless people are infants, weren’t properly identified as homeless by the survey, or have dropped out (or been kicked out) of school.
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the situation could soon become even worse if food stamps are cut. Currently, 45 percent of food stamp recipients are children. In 2011 alone, 4.7 million households were lifted out of poverty thanks to food stamps. If Republicans succeed in their quest to cut the program, the number of children living in poverty would increase substantially. And even if the GOP is held at bay, automatic cuts to food stamps will kick in on November 1, returning the program to pre-stimulus levels and likely resulting in even more homeless students in the wealthiest country in the world.
Over 10 Percent Of America’s Largest Companies Pay Zero Percent Tax Rates
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/10/25/2840141/10-percent-americas-largest-companies-pay-percent-tax-rates/
By Alan Pyke on October 25, 2013
Among companies listed on the S&P 500, almost one in nine paid an effective tax rate of zero percent — or even lower — over the past year, according to an analysis by USA Today.
There are 57 separate companies listed on the index that paid a zero percent rate from the past year. Those companies include both household names like Verizon and News Corp. and lesser-known corporate giants like the data storage manufacturer Seagate (market value $15.9 billion) and Public Storage (market value $29.5 billion). Many of the companies USA Today identified in its analysis as paying negative rates make the list because they lost money, but several were profitable. Previous analyses have shown that the typical corporation pays a lower effective tax rate than most middle-class families, and a far lower one than the statutory corporate tax rate against which business interests disingenuously rail.
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But the more common gambit involves moving revenues from parent companies to offshore subsidiaries based in tax haven countries in the Caribbean, Europe, and elsewhere.
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By Alan Pyke on October 25, 2013
Among companies listed on the S&P 500, almost one in nine paid an effective tax rate of zero percent — or even lower — over the past year, according to an analysis by USA Today.
There are 57 separate companies listed on the index that paid a zero percent rate from the past year. Those companies include both household names like Verizon and News Corp. and lesser-known corporate giants like the data storage manufacturer Seagate (market value $15.9 billion) and Public Storage (market value $29.5 billion). Many of the companies USA Today identified in its analysis as paying negative rates make the list because they lost money, but several were profitable. Previous analyses have shown that the typical corporation pays a lower effective tax rate than most middle-class families, and a far lower one than the statutory corporate tax rate against which business interests disingenuously rail.
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But the more common gambit involves moving revenues from parent companies to offshore subsidiaries based in tax haven countries in the Caribbean, Europe, and elsewhere.
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Earth's 4th Warmest September on Record
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2564
By: Dr. Jeff Masters, 2:26 PM GMT on October 25, 2013
September 2013 was the globe's 4th warmest September since records began in 1880, according to NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). The year-to-date period of January - September has been the 6th warmest such period on record. September 2013 global land temperatures were the 6th warmest on record, and global ocean temperatures were the 4th warmest on record. September 2013 was the 343nd [more than 28 years] consecutive month with global temperatures warmer than the 20th century average.
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By: Dr. Jeff Masters, 2:26 PM GMT on October 25, 2013
September 2013 was the globe's 4th warmest September since records began in 1880, according to NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). The year-to-date period of January - September has been the 6th warmest such period on record. September 2013 global land temperatures were the 6th warmest on record, and global ocean temperatures were the 4th warmest on record. September 2013 was the 343nd [more than 28 years] consecutive month with global temperatures warmer than the 20th century average.
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The number of families with children living in deep poverty has gone up 130 percent since 1996
http://www.salon.com/2013/10/23/the_number_of_families_with_children_living_in_deep_poverty_has_gone_up_130_percent_since_1996/
By Katie Mcdonough
Oct. 23, 2013
Funding for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant hasn’t increased since welfare was “reformed” in 1996. Since then, as revealed by a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the number of families with children living on $2 a day or less has gone up nearly 130 percent.
The report also shows how inadequate assistance from the program has pushed America’s poorest families deeper into poverty during the same time period. As Stephanie Mencimer at Mother Jones notes, there isn’t a single state in the country where welfare benefits provide enough to bring a poor single mother with two kids above 50 percent of the poverty line. In many Southern states, the program doesn’t even provide enough assistance to get a poor family above 10 percent of the poverty line. Even when Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits are factored in, most families with no other income are still below the poverty line.
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By Katie Mcdonough
Oct. 23, 2013
Funding for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant hasn’t increased since welfare was “reformed” in 1996. Since then, as revealed by a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the number of families with children living on $2 a day or less has gone up nearly 130 percent.
The report also shows how inadequate assistance from the program has pushed America’s poorest families deeper into poverty during the same time period. As Stephanie Mencimer at Mother Jones notes, there isn’t a single state in the country where welfare benefits provide enough to bring a poor single mother with two kids above 50 percent of the poverty line. In many Southern states, the program doesn’t even provide enough assistance to get a poor family above 10 percent of the poverty line. Even when Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits are factored in, most families with no other income are still below the poverty line.
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Thursday, October 24, 2013
Bank of America loses fraud trial over shoddy mortgages
People can go to jail for stealing a loaf of bread, but these bankers stole huge amounts of money, and get bonuses. The companies may have to pay fines and restitution, but the money comes out or workers salaries, and shareholder dividends, if they give dividends.http://www.nbcnews.com/business/bank-america-loses-fraud-trial-over-shoddy-mortgages-8C11451522
Nate Raymond
Oct. 23, 2013
Bank of America was found liable for fraud on Wednesday over defective mortgages sold by its Countrywide unit, a major win for the U.S. government in one of the few trials stemming from the financial crisis.
After a four-week trial, a federal jury in New York found the bank liable on one civil fraud charge. Countrywide originated shoddy home loans in a process called "Hustle" and sold them to government mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government said.
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The government continues to investigate banks for conduct related to the financial crisis. The verdict comes as the government is negotiating a $13 billion settlement with JPMorgan Chase to resolve a number of probes and claims arising from its mortgage business, including the sale of mortgage bonds.
Growing Up Poor Changes Children’s Brains And May Even Shorten Their Lives
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/10/22/2816021/poverty-children-brains/
By Alan Pyke on October 22, 2013
Growing up in poverty changes a person’s brain in long-lasting ways that harm emotional processing and increase a child’s odds of mental health problems. The neurological impacts of childhood poverty may even include higher mortality rates, according to a new study by scientists at the University of Denver.
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While this study examined what growing up poor does to a person over decades, other research released over the summer zeroed in on the near-term consequences of poverty on adult brains. The stress of poverty has the same effect on a person’s cognitive ability as pulling an all-nighter every night, knocking as much as 13 percent off of a person’s IQ.
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By Alan Pyke on October 22, 2013
Growing up in poverty changes a person’s brain in long-lasting ways that harm emotional processing and increase a child’s odds of mental health problems. The neurological impacts of childhood poverty may even include higher mortality rates, according to a new study by scientists at the University of Denver.
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While this study examined what growing up poor does to a person over decades, other research released over the summer zeroed in on the near-term consequences of poverty on adult brains. The stress of poverty has the same effect on a person’s cognitive ability as pulling an all-nighter every night, knocking as much as 13 percent off of a person’s IQ.
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Wednesday, October 23, 2013
U.S. steps up investigation as pet death toll hits 580; imported food from China implicated
And surely many more cases have not been reported.http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/10/23/206224/us-steps-up-investigation-as-pet.html
Posted by Rob Hotakainen on October 23, 2013
The Food and Drug Administration says 580 dogs and cats have died after eating jerky pet treats --- and imported pet food from China is suspected of causing the deaths.
The agency said that most of the jerky treats implicated have been made in China, but the exact cause for the deaths is unknown. Manufacturers of pet foods are not required to state the country of origin for each ingredient in their products.
The FDA said it has received reports involving 3,600 dogs and 10 cats getting ill from jerky pet treat-related illnesses.
As part of its probe, the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) has conducted more than 1,200 tests and visited jerky pet treat manufacturers in China.
Now the agency is reaching out to pet owners and veterinarians, asking them to provide blood, urine and tissue samples from animals that get sick from the treats. And the FDA said it would cover the costs
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The FDA said the jerky treats are sold as jerky tenders or strips made of chicken, duck, sweet potatoes or dried fruit.
Many jerky pet treat products were removed from the market in January after a New York lab reported finding evidence of up to six drugs in pet treats made in China.
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/10/23/206224/us-steps-up-investigation-as-pet.html#storylink=cpy
Texas Judge Almost Blocked From Voting Because Of New Voter ID Law
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/10/23/2821651/texas-judge-voter/
By Aviva Shen on October 23, 2013
A Texas district judge who has been voting for the past five decades was almost barred from the polls Tuesday, thanks to the state’s newly implemented, stricter voter ID law. The law kicked in on Tuesday as early voting in Texas’ November 5 election began.
As she told local channel Kiii News, 117th District Court Judge Sandra Watts was flagged for possible voter fraud because her driver’s license lists her maiden name as her middle name, while her voter registration form has her real middle name. This was the first time she has ever had a problem voting in 49 years. “What I have used for voter registration and for identification for the last 52 years was not sufficient yesterday when I went to vote,” she said.
Watts worried that women who use maiden names or hyphenated names may be surprised at the polls. “I don’t think most women know that this is going to create a problem,” the judge said. “That their maiden name is on their driver’s license, which was mandated in 1964 when I got married, and this. And so why would I want to use a provisional ballot when I’ve been voting regular ballot for the last 49 years?”
Many married women do not update their IDs after taking their spouse’s surnames, as the process is arduous and costly. Women must present original documents verifying their name change, such as a marriage license, or pay $20 to obtain new copies. Under the new voter ID law, these women are potential voter fraud risks.
Watts is hardly the only woman who has encountered problems. ThinkProgress’ Scott Keyes interviewed 84-year-old Dorothy Card, who was denied a voter ID three times even though she has voted for more than 60 years and provided extensive proof of identity.
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By Aviva Shen on October 23, 2013
A Texas district judge who has been voting for the past five decades was almost barred from the polls Tuesday, thanks to the state’s newly implemented, stricter voter ID law. The law kicked in on Tuesday as early voting in Texas’ November 5 election began.
As she told local channel Kiii News, 117th District Court Judge Sandra Watts was flagged for possible voter fraud because her driver’s license lists her maiden name as her middle name, while her voter registration form has her real middle name. This was the first time she has ever had a problem voting in 49 years. “What I have used for voter registration and for identification for the last 52 years was not sufficient yesterday when I went to vote,” she said.
Watts worried that women who use maiden names or hyphenated names may be surprised at the polls. “I don’t think most women know that this is going to create a problem,” the judge said. “That their maiden name is on their driver’s license, which was mandated in 1964 when I got married, and this. And so why would I want to use a provisional ballot when I’ve been voting regular ballot for the last 49 years?”
Many married women do not update their IDs after taking their spouse’s surnames, as the process is arduous and costly. Women must present original documents verifying their name change, such as a marriage license, or pay $20 to obtain new copies. Under the new voter ID law, these women are potential voter fraud risks.
Watts is hardly the only woman who has encountered problems. ThinkProgress’ Scott Keyes interviewed 84-year-old Dorothy Card, who was denied a voter ID three times even though she has voted for more than 60 years and provided extensive proof of identity.
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Extreme Heat Is Proving Deadly In Sweden
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/10/23/2825661/extreme-heat-deadly-sweden/
By Katie Valentine on October 23, 2013
Climate change has resulted in about 1,500 premature deaths in Sweden over the last 30 years, according to a new study.
The study, published in Nature Climate Change, found that temperature increases between 1980 and 2009 caused 300 premature deaths in Stockholm, which researchers say translates into about 1,500 deaths across Sweden. The researchers found that, compared to climate data for 1900 to 1929, instances of extremely hot weather signifigantly increased over the 30-year period, causing deaths due to extreme heat to double. They also found that, even though winters as a whole were milder over the 30-year span, there were more instances of extreme cold events, which contributed to a slight increase of deaths over the winter.
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Sweden, with its usually temperate climate, is not the only region facing early deaths from heat waves. In China, temperatures surpassing 105 degrees Fahrenheit killed dozens of people this summer. In 2003, the hottest summer on record in Europe was responsible for the deaths of an estimated 70,000 people. The heat in Europe created unbearable conditions for the young and elderly especially, and it coupled with the lack of wind made pollutants like car exhaust hang in the air, creating dangerous environments for those with asthma.
In the U.S., heat is the leading cause of weather-related death, responsible for the deaths of 155 people in 2012 alone. In 2006, a brutal heat wave that spread throughout most of the U.S. was responsible for or contributed to the deaths of 140 people in New York City alone, most of whom were older and lacked air conditioning. In May, a study predicted that by the 2020s, heat-related deaths in New York City could increase by 20 percent — by the 2080s, under some extreme scenarios, they could jump by 90 percent.
As the climate warms, heat waves are becoming longer, more frequent and more intense — since the 1950s, the duration of heat waves has increased worldwide.
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And though air conditioners can be a lifesaver in a heatwave, they ultimately are bad news for the climate: during the 2013 heat wave, New York City broke its record for energy use in a single day, as residents with access to A.C. cranked it up to stay cool.
By Katie Valentine on October 23, 2013
Climate change has resulted in about 1,500 premature deaths in Sweden over the last 30 years, according to a new study.
The study, published in Nature Climate Change, found that temperature increases between 1980 and 2009 caused 300 premature deaths in Stockholm, which researchers say translates into about 1,500 deaths across Sweden. The researchers found that, compared to climate data for 1900 to 1929, instances of extremely hot weather signifigantly increased over the 30-year period, causing deaths due to extreme heat to double. They also found that, even though winters as a whole were milder over the 30-year span, there were more instances of extreme cold events, which contributed to a slight increase of deaths over the winter.
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Sweden, with its usually temperate climate, is not the only region facing early deaths from heat waves. In China, temperatures surpassing 105 degrees Fahrenheit killed dozens of people this summer. In 2003, the hottest summer on record in Europe was responsible for the deaths of an estimated 70,000 people. The heat in Europe created unbearable conditions for the young and elderly especially, and it coupled with the lack of wind made pollutants like car exhaust hang in the air, creating dangerous environments for those with asthma.
In the U.S., heat is the leading cause of weather-related death, responsible for the deaths of 155 people in 2012 alone. In 2006, a brutal heat wave that spread throughout most of the U.S. was responsible for or contributed to the deaths of 140 people in New York City alone, most of whom were older and lacked air conditioning. In May, a study predicted that by the 2020s, heat-related deaths in New York City could increase by 20 percent — by the 2080s, under some extreme scenarios, they could jump by 90 percent.
As the climate warms, heat waves are becoming longer, more frequent and more intense — since the 1950s, the duration of heat waves has increased worldwide.
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And though air conditioners can be a lifesaver in a heatwave, they ultimately are bad news for the climate: during the 2013 heat wave, New York City broke its record for energy use in a single day, as residents with access to A.C. cranked it up to stay cool.
Shipping lanes are getting too noisy for the whales, coastal survey shows
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/shipping-lanes-are-getting-too-noisy-whales-coastal-survey-shows-8C11453571
Elizabeth Howell
Oct. 23, 2013
Humpback whales and killer whales are losing up to 94 percent and 97 percent, respectively, of their communication space in the busiest areas of the ocean off the British Columbia coast, according to a new study.
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Shipping noise is an easy problem to fix, compared with acidification, a warming climate and other situations that would take decades to address, Williams added. To cut down on the cacophony, ships could slow down or avoid whale-filled areas, or manufacturers could construct quieter vessels, he suggests.
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Elizabeth Howell
Oct. 23, 2013
Humpback whales and killer whales are losing up to 94 percent and 97 percent, respectively, of their communication space in the busiest areas of the ocean off the British Columbia coast, according to a new study.
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Shipping noise is an easy problem to fix, compared with acidification, a warming climate and other situations that would take decades to address, Williams added. To cut down on the cacophony, ships could slow down or avoid whale-filled areas, or manufacturers could construct quieter vessels, he suggests.
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Privitization
I heard on the radio that a bunch ofcontract programmers had worked on the Obamacare web site. Shows the the wonders of privatization and low bid contracts, sounds like.
Stronger Sexual Impulses May Explain Why Men Cheat More Than Women
Not stunning news. Although I think the women's reaction would depend on the circumstances, esp. if they are in love.http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130921092236.htm
Shows why societies where women have more equality tend to be more advanced. We can spend more time thinking about things other than sex.
Sep. 21, 2013 — A recently published study strongly suggests men succumb to sexual temptations more than women -- for example, cheating on a partner -- because they experience strong sexual impulses, not because they have weak self-control.
Previous research has shown that men are more likely than women to pursue romantic partners that are "off limits." However, until now, the explanation for this sex difference was largely unexplored.
One possible explanation for this effect is that men experience stronger sexual impulses than women do. A second possibility is that women have better self-control than men. The current study's results support the former explanation and provide new insight into humans' evolutionary origins.
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Texas Republicans Find A Way To Disenfranchise Women Voters
http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/texas-republicans-find-a-way-to-disenfranchise-women-voters/news/2013/10/17/77023#.UmhcK1MwK50
by Jean Ann Esselink on October 17, 2013
They’ve targeted Blacks, Latinos and college students. Now Texas has come up with a Voter ID law that will disproportionately affect women – the constituency they most fear will support Wendy Davis.
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Think Progress reports that as of November 5, Texans must show a photo ID with their up-to-date legal name. It sounds like such a small thing, but according to the Brennan Center for Justice, only 66% of voting age women have ready access to a photo document that will attest to proof of citizenship. This is largely because young women have not updated their documents with their married names, a circumstance that doesn’t affect male voters in any significant way. Suddenly 34% of women voters are scrambling for an acceptable ID, while 99% of men are home free.
As of November 5, a birth certificate is not enough. Women voters will have to show legal proof of a name change: a marriage license, a divorce decree, or court ordered change; and they have to be the original documents. No photocopies allowed. This means thousands of women face the hassle of figuring out what they need and how to get it. Then they face at least a $20 fee, more if a woman doesn’t have the time to stand in line and wants it mailed. As a result, many women who are eligible to vote, won’t.
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by Jean Ann Esselink on October 17, 2013
They’ve targeted Blacks, Latinos and college students. Now Texas has come up with a Voter ID law that will disproportionately affect women – the constituency they most fear will support Wendy Davis.
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Think Progress reports that as of November 5, Texans must show a photo ID with their up-to-date legal name. It sounds like such a small thing, but according to the Brennan Center for Justice, only 66% of voting age women have ready access to a photo document that will attest to proof of citizenship. This is largely because young women have not updated their documents with their married names, a circumstance that doesn’t affect male voters in any significant way. Suddenly 34% of women voters are scrambling for an acceptable ID, while 99% of men are home free.
As of November 5, a birth certificate is not enough. Women voters will have to show legal proof of a name change: a marriage license, a divorce decree, or court ordered change; and they have to be the original documents. No photocopies allowed. This means thousands of women face the hassle of figuring out what they need and how to get it. Then they face at least a $20 fee, more if a woman doesn’t have the time to stand in line and wants it mailed. As a result, many women who are eligible to vote, won’t.
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Australia's hottest September on record
Recently an elderly relative claimed he hadn't noticed that the weather has changed, obviously quoting denialist propaganda. The thing is, he has never lived anywhere long enough to know whether or not it has changed. I have, and it has definitely gotten warmer.http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2562
By: Dr. Jeff Masters, 2:26 PM GMT on October 23, 2013
Sydney, Australia and the Blue Mountains to its west endured extreme fire weather conditions on Wednesday without catastrophe, as "aggressive" and "high-risk" fire fighting strategies kept the 71 fires burning in New South Wales from causing major devastation.
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Australia has just had its hottest September on record, and the 12-month period ending in September 2013 set a record for the hottest 12-month period in Australian history. Australia's warmest summer and 3rd warmest winter on record occurred during this 12-month period. It has also been quite dry in the fire region over the past few months, with soil moisture levels in the lowest 10% historically for this time of year.
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“Climate change is increasing the risk of more frequent and longer heat waves and more extreme hot days, as well as exacerbating bushfire conditions.” So said the independent non-profit Australia Climate Council in a report on the record September 2013 heat in Australia.
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Australia's Climate Commission was defunded after the new government led by Prime Minister Tony Abbott took power in September 2013, writes Brian Kahn at climatecentral.org. However, the commissioners banded together and used crowd-funding to raise $1 million to start the non-profit Climate Council, a nonprofit organization aimed at providing climate information on Australia to the public. The Council is planning to release a report specifically about wildfires in November 2013.
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Monday, October 21, 2013
Fox Deflects From GOP Role In HealthCare.gov Problems
The point of Feaux Noise coverage is to increase profits for their insurance company advertisershttp://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/10/21/fox-deflects-from-gop-role-in-healthcaregov-pro/196515
ZACHARY PLEAT
Oct. 21, 2013
Fox News is preemptively deflecting blame from Republicans for their refusal to set up state-based health insurance exchanges, which media reports say contributed to problems with the federal health insurance exchange website HealthCare.gov.
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States had to notify the federal government by mid-February if they intended to create their own exchanges. A February 18 post on The Washington Post's Wonkblog explained that nearly all of the states that failed to set up their own exchanges were Republican-led, as demonstrated by the following graph:
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Media reports show that this partisan decision by Republican governors has contributed to the federal government's problems launching HealthCare.gov, but Fox has already worked to prevent Republicans from shouldering any of the blame for those issues.
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New book reveals Fox News PR’s dirty trick
Not surprising. The fossil fuel industry pays people to post global warming denialist comments on the internet.http://www.salon.com/2013/10/21/new_book_reveals_fox_news_prs_dirty_trick/
Monday, Oct 21, 2013
By Sarah Gray
The new book “Murdoch’s World” written by NPR media reporter David Folkenflik, offers surprising details about the Fox News PR machine. Media Matters reported that in the late 2000s Fox News public relations staff engaged in an elaborate attempt to portray the conservative site in a positive light. Staffers created multiple untraceable aliases and posted positive comments about their employer on unfavorable or neutral blogs.
The book’s endnotes say that four former Fox News employees spoke to Folkenflik about this tactic;
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Spanking linked to later aggression in children
Consistent with my experience when I was babysitting. The children who were the hardest to deal with were those whose parents were into spanking.http://www.today.com/moms/spanking-linked-later-aggression-among-kids-8C11431781
Genevra Pittman
Oct. 21, 2013
Think spanking will help teach an out-of-control child to stay in line? A new study suggests the opposite may be true.
Researchers found kids who were spanked as 5-year-olds were slightly more likely to be aggressive and break rules later in elementary school.
Those results are in keeping with past research, said Elizabeth Gershoff. She studies parental discipline and its effects at the University of Texas at Austin.
"There's just no evidence that spanking is good for kids," she told Reuters Health.
"Spanking models aggression as a way of solving problems, that you can hit people and get what you want," said Gershoff, who wasn't involved in the new study.
"When (children) want another kid's toy, the parents haven't taught them how to use their words or how to negotiate."
Despite mounting evidence on the harms tied to spanking, it is "still a very typical experience" for U.S. children, the study's lead author said.
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Kids also tended to score lower on vocabulary tests when they had been regularly spanked by their fathers at age 5, MacKenzie and his colleagues write in Pediatrics.
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When it comes to disciplining children, she said there's more evidence on what doesn't work long-term than what does.
"We know that spanking doesn't work, we know that yelling doesn't work," Gershoff said. "Timeout is kind of a mixed bag. We know that reasoning does work."
MacKenzie said spanking continues to seem effective to parents in the short term, which makes it hard to change their minds about it.
"It's strongly associated with immediate compliance," he told Reuters Health. "Children will change their behavior in the moment."
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Sunday, October 20, 2013
Fox Column Shrugs Off Unprecedented Obstruction Of Obama's Judicial Nominees
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/10/18/fox-column-shrugs-off-unprecedented-obstruction/196502
October 18, 2013
MEAGAN HATCHER-MAYS
Right-wing media continue to deny that President Obama's judicial nominees have faced unparalleled obstruction from congressional Republicans, and is mischaracterizing the legal philosophies of those nominees.
FoxNews.com contributor John Lott not only misled on the overwhelming hurdles President Obama's nominees have faced, he also rather bizarrely branded one nominee as "controversial," even though his legal opinions are based on well-established Supreme Court precedent.
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But As Lott himself acknowledges, numerous analyses (including one by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service) have shown that President Obama's "rhetoric" is true -- his nominees have been blocked at unprecedented levels. Lott dismisses these studies by highly reputable sources because supposedly their "numbers are fundamentally flawed," a bold claim from a source whose research on gun violence has been repeatedly and seriously discredited.
Lott also mysteriously concludes that "when President Obama was a Senator, Democrats gave George W. Bush's Circuit Court nominees much tougher confirmations."
This claim is highly questionable. Although both Republicans and Democrats have engaged in filibusters to block judicial nominees, Democrats typically use this tactic for truly controversial nominees. As The Wall Street Journal has reported, President Obama's mainstream and bipartisan-supported nominees are far more likely to be filibustered than were George W. Bush's:
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October 18, 2013
MEAGAN HATCHER-MAYS
Right-wing media continue to deny that President Obama's judicial nominees have faced unparalleled obstruction from congressional Republicans, and is mischaracterizing the legal philosophies of those nominees.
FoxNews.com contributor John Lott not only misled on the overwhelming hurdles President Obama's nominees have faced, he also rather bizarrely branded one nominee as "controversial," even though his legal opinions are based on well-established Supreme Court precedent.
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But As Lott himself acknowledges, numerous analyses (including one by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service) have shown that President Obama's "rhetoric" is true -- his nominees have been blocked at unprecedented levels. Lott dismisses these studies by highly reputable sources because supposedly their "numbers are fundamentally flawed," a bold claim from a source whose research on gun violence has been repeatedly and seriously discredited.
Lott also mysteriously concludes that "when President Obama was a Senator, Democrats gave George W. Bush's Circuit Court nominees much tougher confirmations."
This claim is highly questionable. Although both Republicans and Democrats have engaged in filibusters to block judicial nominees, Democrats typically use this tactic for truly controversial nominees. As The Wall Street Journal has reported, President Obama's mainstream and bipartisan-supported nominees are far more likely to be filibustered than were George W. Bush's:
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Disrupted sleep may make heavy drinkers particularly prone to liver disease
http://www.rush.edu/rumc/page-1298330820957.html
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Disrupted sleep and circadian rhythm — the body's internal clock — may play a role in the development of liver disease for those who are vulnerable due to heavy drinking, according to research conducted at Rush University Medical Center. For purposes of the study, was defined as receiving 29 percent of all daily calories from alcohol.
The study, which was published in the August issue of the journal PLOS ONE, showed that disruption of circadian rhythms, which is often seen in shift workers and those suffering from jet lag, weakened the lining of the gut (a condition known as leaky gut) in a clinical lab setting. People with leaky gut are vulnerable to illnesses such as liver disease because the weakening of the intestinal wall allows toxins to enter the bloodstream.
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Disrupted sleep and circadian rhythm — the body's internal clock — may play a role in the development of liver disease for those who are vulnerable due to heavy drinking, according to research conducted at Rush University Medical Center. For purposes of the study, was defined as receiving 29 percent of all daily calories from alcohol.
The study, which was published in the August issue of the journal PLOS ONE, showed that disruption of circadian rhythms, which is often seen in shift workers and those suffering from jet lag, weakened the lining of the gut (a condition known as leaky gut) in a clinical lab setting. People with leaky gut are vulnerable to illnesses such as liver disease because the weakening of the intestinal wall allows toxins to enter the bloodstream.
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Saturday, October 19, 2013
News Corp.'s CEO Reportedly Tried To Suppress WSJ Coverage Of Company's Phone Hacking Scandal
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/10/18/news-corps-ceo-reportedly-tried-to-suppress-wsj/196497
October 18, 2013
OLIVER WILLIS
Before he was promoted to his current role as chief executive officer of News Corp., Robert Thomson used his position at The Wall Street Journal to hobble the paper's reporting of the parent company's phone hacking scandal, according to a new book.
According to a report in Capital New York, Murdoch's World, the forthcoming book on Rubert Murdoch's empire by NPR media reporter David Folkenflik, alleges that as the phone-hacking story broke in the summer of 2011, Thomson, then the Journal managing editor, "tried to prevent the publication" of a "damaging" article on the scandal.
Thomson was later promoted to CEO of News Corp.
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Folkenflik writes that "Thomson tried to kill the story several different times," and that "several reporters and editors" believed he was "intentionally trying to set impossible standards so the story would not see the light of day."
According to Capital New York, the story "was eventually published on August 20, 2011, but the revelations about the altered News of the World article were buried in paragraph nine."
Previous reports have described Thomson as "one of Rupert Murdoch's closest confidants and, some say, best friend."
The News Corp. phone hacking scandal, the fallout of which continues to this day, involves a pattern of allegations of hundreds of instances of phone hacking, police bribery, and other crimes by reporters at News of the World and other London tabloids owned by the company.
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The Journal was not the only U.S.-based Murdoch property to offer controversial coverage of the story.Media Matters has documented that Fox News was late to the phone hacking story and devoted far less time to it than other cable news networks. When Fox finally did cover the story the network did its best to do damage control for its parent company's behavior.
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October 18, 2013
OLIVER WILLIS
Before he was promoted to his current role as chief executive officer of News Corp., Robert Thomson used his position at The Wall Street Journal to hobble the paper's reporting of the parent company's phone hacking scandal, according to a new book.
According to a report in Capital New York, Murdoch's World, the forthcoming book on Rubert Murdoch's empire by NPR media reporter David Folkenflik, alleges that as the phone-hacking story broke in the summer of 2011, Thomson, then the Journal managing editor, "tried to prevent the publication" of a "damaging" article on the scandal.
Thomson was later promoted to CEO of News Corp.
-----
Folkenflik writes that "Thomson tried to kill the story several different times," and that "several reporters and editors" believed he was "intentionally trying to set impossible standards so the story would not see the light of day."
According to Capital New York, the story "was eventually published on August 20, 2011, but the revelations about the altered News of the World article were buried in paragraph nine."
Previous reports have described Thomson as "one of Rupert Murdoch's closest confidants and, some say, best friend."
The News Corp. phone hacking scandal, the fallout of which continues to this day, involves a pattern of allegations of hundreds of instances of phone hacking, police bribery, and other crimes by reporters at News of the World and other London tabloids owned by the company.
-----
The Journal was not the only U.S.-based Murdoch property to offer controversial coverage of the story.Media Matters has documented that Fox News was late to the phone hacking story and devoted far less time to it than other cable news networks. When Fox finally did cover the story the network did its best to do damage control for its parent company's behavior.
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Hamsters tackle energy crisis :)
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21829212.500-feedback-hamsters-tackle-energy-crisis.html
IN A Feedback item on scam conference invitations last year (18 August 2012), marine biologist Phil Clapham told us he got so tired of receiving these that in response he started submitting ridiculous paper titles under his dog's name, Cleo V Borzoi. Now he tells us about his dog's "latest triumph".
Last month, Phil received an email inviting him "to be a Speaker at Forum 4: Ocean Energy, at the 3rd New Energy Forum, which is one of the most crucial parallel meetings of EAFE-2013, during September 26-28, 2013, at Xi'an Qujiang International Conference Center, China."
Sensing another scam, he replied: "Re: Entitled to be Speaker at New Energy Forum-2013 (September 26-28, China), I would like to submit the following paper:
'Borzoi, Cleo V. Harnessing angular kinetic energy from colossal cloned Rodenta: re-envisioning the hamster wheel model in green energy management.'
Please let me know if this is appropriate
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=============================================
He got an e-mail back saying they thought the "research is very interesting and novel."
He got a following e-mail asking for payment of a $1299 "Registration Fee".
IN A Feedback item on scam conference invitations last year (18 August 2012), marine biologist Phil Clapham told us he got so tired of receiving these that in response he started submitting ridiculous paper titles under his dog's name, Cleo V Borzoi. Now he tells us about his dog's "latest triumph".
Last month, Phil received an email inviting him "to be a Speaker at Forum 4: Ocean Energy, at the 3rd New Energy Forum, which is one of the most crucial parallel meetings of EAFE-2013, during September 26-28, 2013, at Xi'an Qujiang International Conference Center, China."
Sensing another scam, he replied: "Re: Entitled to be Speaker at New Energy Forum-2013 (September 26-28, China), I would like to submit the following paper:
'Borzoi, Cleo V. Harnessing angular kinetic energy from colossal cloned Rodenta: re-envisioning the hamster wheel model in green energy management.'
Please let me know if this is appropriate
-----
=============================================
He got an e-mail back saying they thought the "research is very interesting and novel."
He got a following e-mail asking for payment of a $1299 "Registration Fee".
Napping may boost preschoolers' memory skills
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57604261/
By Michelle Castillo /
CBS News/ September 23, 2013
Naps don't just provide children with much-needed rest: They may aid in learning too.
New research shows that children who had a midday nap performed better on memory recall tests than those who weren't able to get any extra snooze time.
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By Michelle Castillo /
CBS News/ September 23, 2013
Naps don't just provide children with much-needed rest: They may aid in learning too.
New research shows that children who had a midday nap performed better on memory recall tests than those who weren't able to get any extra snooze time.
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College-educated workers are taking jobs that don't require degrees
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-college-grads-20130920,0,4465594.story
By Alana Semuels
September 20, 2013
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"I have a master's in economics and I'm bartending in New York," he said with a shrug. "It's a good way to make money."
A college degree once all but guaranteed a well-paying job and higher earnings than high school graduates. But fewer of these good jobs are now available because of both long-term economic changes and the lingering effects of the Great Recession.
People such as Flagherty with college and advanced degrees are working jobs that don't require them, whether by choice or necessity. That in turn pushes people without college degrees out of those jobs.
In 1970, only 2% of firefighters had college degrees; now 18% do, according to Richard Vedder, an economist at Ohio University. Fewer than 1% of taxi drivers had a college degree in 1970; now 15% do. About 25% of retail sales clerks have college degrees, Vedder said.
"The main reason is a pretty simple one," he said. "The number of college graduates has grown vastly faster than the number of jobs that require high-level education skills."
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Because college is so expensive, many students are facing a dilemma: If they go to college, they still might not get a job that requires a college degree, and they'll be on the hook for big student loan payments. But if they don't go to college, they might be pushed out of entry-level jobs by overqualified college graduates who can't find other work.
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By Alana Semuels
September 20, 2013
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"I have a master's in economics and I'm bartending in New York," he said with a shrug. "It's a good way to make money."
A college degree once all but guaranteed a well-paying job and higher earnings than high school graduates. But fewer of these good jobs are now available because of both long-term economic changes and the lingering effects of the Great Recession.
People such as Flagherty with college and advanced degrees are working jobs that don't require them, whether by choice or necessity. That in turn pushes people without college degrees out of those jobs.
In 1970, only 2% of firefighters had college degrees; now 18% do, according to Richard Vedder, an economist at Ohio University. Fewer than 1% of taxi drivers had a college degree in 1970; now 15% do. About 25% of retail sales clerks have college degrees, Vedder said.
"The main reason is a pretty simple one," he said. "The number of college graduates has grown vastly faster than the number of jobs that require high-level education skills."
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Because college is so expensive, many students are facing a dilemma: If they go to college, they still might not get a job that requires a college degree, and they'll be on the hook for big student loan payments. But if they don't go to college, they might be pushed out of entry-level jobs by overqualified college graduates who can't find other work.
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Study strengthens link between low dietary fiber intake and increased cardiovascular risk
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/ehs-ssl101813.php
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 18-Oct-2013
Contact: Jane Grochowski
Elsevier Health Sciences
Results reported in The American Journal of Medicine
Philadelphia, PA, October 18, 2013 – A new study published in the December issue of The American Journal of Medicine shows a significant association between low dietary fiber intake and cardiometabolic risks including metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular inflammation, and obesity. Surveillance data from 23,168 subjects in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2010 was used to examine the role dietary fiber plays in heart health.
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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 18-Oct-2013
Contact: Jane Grochowski
Elsevier Health Sciences
Results reported in The American Journal of Medicine
Philadelphia, PA, October 18, 2013 – A new study published in the December issue of The American Journal of Medicine shows a significant association between low dietary fiber intake and cardiometabolic risks including metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular inflammation, and obesity. Surveillance data from 23,168 subjects in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2010 was used to examine the role dietary fiber plays in heart health.
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Brain May Flush out Toxins During Sleep
I have noticed that when don't get enough sleep, I start feeling as if I'm getting Alzheimers.http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131017144636.htm
Oct. 17, 2013 — A good night's rest may literally clear the mind. Using mice, researchers showed for the first time that the space between brain cells may increase during sleep, allowing the brain to flush out toxins that build up during waking hours. These results suggest a new role for sleep in health and disease. The study was funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the NIH.
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Previous studies suggest that toxic molecules involved in neurodegenerative disorders accumulate in the space between brain cells. In this study, the researchers tested whether the glymphatic system controls this by injecting mice with labeled beta-amyloid, a protein associated with Alzheimer's disease, and measuring how long it lasted in their brains when they were asleep or awake. Beta-amyloid disappeared faster in mice brains when the mice were asleep, suggesting sleep normally clears toxic molecules from the brain.
"These results may have broad implications for multiple neurological disorders," said Jim Koenig, Ph.D., a program director at NINDS. "This means the cells regulating the glymphatic system may be new targets for treating a range of disorders."
Pacific Ocean Temperature Influences Tornado Activity in US
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131017174043.htm
Oct. 17, 2013 — Meteorologists often use information about warm and cold fronts to determine whether a tornado will occur in a particular area. Now, a University of Missouri researcher has found that the temperature of the Pacific Ocean could help scientists predict the type and location of tornado activity in the U.S.
Laurel McCoy, an atmospheric science graduate student at the MU School of Natural Resources, and Tony Lupo, professor and chair of atmospheric science in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, surveyed 56,457 tornado-like events from 1950 to 2011. They found that when surface sea temperatures were warmer than average, the U.S. experienced 20.3 percent more tornados that were rated EF-2 to EF-5 on the Enhanced Fuijta (EF) scale. (The EF scale rates the strength of tornados based on the damage they cause. The scale has six category rankings from zero to five.)
McCoy and Lupo found that the tornados that occurred when surface sea temperatures were above average were usually located to the west and north of tornado alley, an area in the Midwestern part of the U.S. that experiences more tornados than any other area. McCoy also found that when sea surface temperatures were cooler, more tornadoes tracked from southern states, like Alabama, into Tennessee, Illinois and Indiana.
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Oct. 17, 2013 — Meteorologists often use information about warm and cold fronts to determine whether a tornado will occur in a particular area. Now, a University of Missouri researcher has found that the temperature of the Pacific Ocean could help scientists predict the type and location of tornado activity in the U.S.
Laurel McCoy, an atmospheric science graduate student at the MU School of Natural Resources, and Tony Lupo, professor and chair of atmospheric science in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, surveyed 56,457 tornado-like events from 1950 to 2011. They found that when surface sea temperatures were warmer than average, the U.S. experienced 20.3 percent more tornados that were rated EF-2 to EF-5 on the Enhanced Fuijta (EF) scale. (The EF scale rates the strength of tornados based on the damage they cause. The scale has six category rankings from zero to five.)
McCoy and Lupo found that the tornados that occurred when surface sea temperatures were above average were usually located to the west and north of tornado alley, an area in the Midwestern part of the U.S. that experiences more tornados than any other area. McCoy also found that when sea surface temperatures were cooler, more tornadoes tracked from southern states, like Alabama, into Tennessee, Illinois and Indiana.
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Foliage Season Under Fire from Climate Change
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/foliage-season-under-fire-from-climate-change-16607
October 14th, 2013
By Brian Kahn
Clocks aren’t the only things falling back at this time of year. The start to foliage season is also on the move, with the season starting later and later in the U.S. since 1982. Other threats from climate change could also cost states that rely on the billions from leaf peepers in lost tourism revenues and have ecological impacts that extend well beyond the season.
The U.S. Forest Service estimates that fiery foliage in the Berkshires and Green and White Mountains generates $8 billion in tourism revenue annually for New England alone. Foliage season is so important to Vermont that the state employs a leaf forecaster. States in other parts of the country also depend on foliage season to bring in tourism dollars, though specific numbers are harder to come by.
Warmer weather is contributing to a later ending to the growing season in the U.S. according to research from Seoul National University. The end of the season is marked by the point when satellites see the overall greenness of foliage start to decline, was over two weeks later in 2008 compared to 1982.
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October 14th, 2013
By Brian Kahn
Clocks aren’t the only things falling back at this time of year. The start to foliage season is also on the move, with the season starting later and later in the U.S. since 1982. Other threats from climate change could also cost states that rely on the billions from leaf peepers in lost tourism revenues and have ecological impacts that extend well beyond the season.
The U.S. Forest Service estimates that fiery foliage in the Berkshires and Green and White Mountains generates $8 billion in tourism revenue annually for New England alone. Foliage season is so important to Vermont that the state employs a leaf forecaster. States in other parts of the country also depend on foliage season to bring in tourism dollars, though specific numbers are harder to come by.
Warmer weather is contributing to a later ending to the growing season in the U.S. according to research from Seoul National University. The end of the season is marked by the point when satellites see the overall greenness of foliage start to decline, was over two weeks later in 2008 compared to 1982.
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There Are 4 Million Songs on Spotify That Have Never Been Played Once
http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2013/10/11/songsonspotify
Friday, October 11, 2013
by Rochell
Spotify is a wonderful place to spread your music and get discovered. But that assumes that anyone knows you exist.
According to data just released by Spotify, 80 percent of the 20 million songs on the service have been streamed at least once. Which also means that 4 million tracks have never been played — not once.
========================================
I have some songs at
http://www.reverbnation.com/patriciashannon
Friday, October 11, 2013
by Rochell
Spotify is a wonderful place to spread your music and get discovered. But that assumes that anyone knows you exist.
According to data just released by Spotify, 80 percent of the 20 million songs on the service have been streamed at least once. Which also means that 4 million tracks have never been played — not once.
========================================
I have some songs at
http://www.reverbnation.com/patriciashannon
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Homeless Man Learning Computer Programming Arrested For Sleeping In Public
What would Jesus think?http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/10/16/2783331/leo-homeless-criminalization/
By Scott Keyes on October 16, 2013
A well-known homeless man was arrested this week for sleeping on a New York City park bench, becoming perhaps the most high-profile case of the ongoing criminalization of homelessness.
“Journeyman” Leo became Internet famous in August when a local computer programmer, Patrick McConlogue, wrote an article about his plan to offer the homeless man either $100 or free computer programming lessons. Though McConologue was widely ridiculed for the tone of his piece — he later said he regretted some of the words he used — Leo chose to learn how to code and has been grateful for the opportunity. After just one month, he’d already built an app that tracks the carbon dioxide emissions one would save by carpooling; it will be released in the coming weeks. He was, for all intents, making remarkable progress towards a new career and helping get off the streets.
And yet, even for people showing such promise, the cycle of homelessness isn’t easily vanquished.
On Monday morning, the New York Police Department arrested Leo “for sleeping on a bench that he normally doesn’t sleep on.” By city ordinance, all parks are closed between the hours of 1AM and 5AM. He was charged with trespassing, a violation that could carry a fine of up to $250. If that doesn’t sound like much, try paying it off when you already don’t have enough money for bare essentials like food or shelter.
There are approximately 55,000 homeless people in New York City, a record high. There is very little affordable housing and not enough shelter beds for everyone. But even people who can’t afford a home and don’t have a shelter are biologically compelled to sleep. So making it illegal to sleep on park benches effectively criminalizes homelessness and saddles poor people with fines they can’t afford. This creates a cycle where homeless people, already struggling to scrape together enough resources to get off the street, instead have to first figure out some way to pay off their fine.
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Photos of Earth from space
The following link has a slide show of beautiful photos of Earth taken from space.http://www.forbes.com/pictures/ejig45edkkm/the-rising-earth/
Sea Level Rise Swamping Florida's Everglades
http://news.yahoo.com/sea-level-rise-swamping-floridas-everglades-225236887.html
By By Becky Oskin
Oct. 17, 2013
Rising sea levels are transforming the Florida Everglades, a new study shows. Plant communities that thrive in salt water are expanding along the coast, leaving less room for plants that depend on fresh water.
Salt-loving mangroves in the Everglades have marched inland in the past decade, while freshwater plants — such as saw grass, spike rush and tropical hardwood trees — lost ground, according to a study published in the October 2013 issue of the journal Wetlands.
The findings, which come from an analysis of satellite imagery from 2001 through 2010, match long-term trends tracked on the ground for the past 70 years, said lead study author Douglas Fuller, a geographer at the University of Miami.
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By By Becky Oskin
Oct. 17, 2013
Rising sea levels are transforming the Florida Everglades, a new study shows. Plant communities that thrive in salt water are expanding along the coast, leaving less room for plants that depend on fresh water.
Salt-loving mangroves in the Everglades have marched inland in the past decade, while freshwater plants — such as saw grass, spike rush and tropical hardwood trees — lost ground, according to a study published in the October 2013 issue of the journal Wetlands.
The findings, which come from an analysis of satellite imagery from 2001 through 2010, match long-term trends tracked on the ground for the past 70 years, said lead study author Douglas Fuller, a geographer at the University of Miami.
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30 million people still live in slavery, human rights group says
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/17/21005059-30-million-people-still-live-in-slavery-human-rights-group-says?lite
Oct. 17, 2013
By Alexander Smith, NBC News contributor
Almost 30 million people across the globe are living in modern-day slavery, according to a report published Thursday.
The inaugural Global Slavery Index, published by the Australia-based Walk Free Foundation, said the African nation of Mauritania, Haiti, Pakistan, and India have the highest number of slaves in proportion to population.
But taken in absolute terms, global powers such as China and Russia were near the top of the list of countries with the largest total of people living in slavery.
The index says the term "slavery" is used mean a variety of conditions, such as forced labor, human trafficking, the sale and exploitation of children, and forced marriage.
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The U.S. came in at 134th, worse off than Barbados (135), South Korea (137), Hong Kong (141), Costa Rica (146), and Cuba (149).
While deeming the U.S. and Canada "very low risk," it said they were prime destinations for human trafficking because of "their demand for cheap labour and relatively porous land borders."
The U.K., Ireland, and Iceland were given the best ratings and came in at joint 160th.
“This does not mean these countries are slavery free,” the report said. “On the contrary, it is estimated that there are between 4,200 -- 4,600 people in modern slavery in the United Kingdom alone.”The U.S. came in at 134th, worse off than Barbados (135), South Korea (137), Hong Kong (141), Costa Rica (146), and Cuba (149).
While deeming the U.S. and Canada "very low risk," it said they were prime destinations for human trafficking because of "their demand for cheap labour and relatively porous land borders."
The U.K., Ireland, and Iceland were given the best ratings and came in at joint 160th.
“This does not mean these countries are slavery free,” the report said. “On the contrary, it is estimated that there are between 4,200 -- 4,600 people in modern slavery in the United Kingdom alone.”
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Oct. 17, 2013
By Alexander Smith, NBC News contributor
Almost 30 million people across the globe are living in modern-day slavery, according to a report published Thursday.
The inaugural Global Slavery Index, published by the Australia-based Walk Free Foundation, said the African nation of Mauritania, Haiti, Pakistan, and India have the highest number of slaves in proportion to population.
But taken in absolute terms, global powers such as China and Russia were near the top of the list of countries with the largest total of people living in slavery.
The index says the term "slavery" is used mean a variety of conditions, such as forced labor, human trafficking, the sale and exploitation of children, and forced marriage.
-----
The U.S. came in at 134th, worse off than Barbados (135), South Korea (137), Hong Kong (141), Costa Rica (146), and Cuba (149).
While deeming the U.S. and Canada "very low risk," it said they were prime destinations for human trafficking because of "their demand for cheap labour and relatively porous land borders."
The U.K., Ireland, and Iceland were given the best ratings and came in at joint 160th.
“This does not mean these countries are slavery free,” the report said. “On the contrary, it is estimated that there are between 4,200 -- 4,600 people in modern slavery in the United Kingdom alone.”The U.S. came in at 134th, worse off than Barbados (135), South Korea (137), Hong Kong (141), Costa Rica (146), and Cuba (149).
While deeming the U.S. and Canada "very low risk," it said they were prime destinations for human trafficking because of "their demand for cheap labour and relatively porous land borders."
The U.K., Ireland, and Iceland were given the best ratings and came in at joint 160th.
“This does not mean these countries are slavery free,” the report said. “On the contrary, it is estimated that there are between 4,200 -- 4,600 people in modern slavery in the United Kingdom alone.”
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The Heritability of Intelligence: Not What You Think
If you read this blog regularly, you will know that scientists have found that such things as nutrition before one is even born, exposure to pollution, stress to your mother while you are in utero, can all affect intelligence. When due to epigenetic changes, the effects may last for more than one generation.http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/2013/10/17/the-heritability-of-intelligence-not-what-you-think/?WT.mc_id=SA_facebook
By Scott Barry Kaufman | October 17, 2013
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To be clear: these findings do not mean that differences in intelligence are entirely determined by culture. Numerous researchers have found that the structure of cognitive abilities is strongly influenced by genes (although we haven’t the foggiest idea which genes are reliably important). What these findings do suggest is that there is a much greater role of culture, education, and experience in the development of intelligence than mainstream theories of intelligence have assumed.
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But these recent findings by Kees-Jan Kan and colleagues suggest just the opposite: The bigger the difference in cognitive ability between blacks and whites, the more the difference is determined by cultural influences.**
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WHO agency: Air pollution causes cancer
WHO : World Health Organizationhttp://www.nbcnews.com/health/who-agency-air-pollution-causes-cancer-8C11410692
It has long been known that air pollution damages the lungs in ways other than cancer.
It is disheartening to see people jogging for exercise beside a heavily trafficked road. They think they are making themselves healthier, when they are damaging themselves.
Maria Cheng, The Associated Press
Oct. 17, 2013
ONDON — What many commuters choking on smog have long suspected has finally been scientifically validated: air pollution causes lung cancer.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer declared on Thursday that air pollution is a carcinogen, alongside known dangers such as asbestos, tobacco and ultraviolet radiation. The decision came after a consultation by an expert panel organized by IARC, the cancer agency of the World Health Organization, which is based in Lyon, France.
"We consider this to be the most important environmental carcinogen, more so than passive smoking," said Kurt Straif, head of the IARC department that evaluates cancer-causing substances.
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Other experts emphasized the cancer risk from pollution for the average person was very low — but virtually unavoidable.
"You can choose not to drink or not to smoke, but you can't control whether or not you're exposed to air pollution," said Francesca Dominici, a professor of biostatics at Harvard University's School of Public Health. "You can't just decide not to breathe," she said. Dominici was not connected to the IARC expert panel.
A person's risk for cancer depends on numerous variables, including genetics, exposure to dangerous substances and lifestyle choices regarding issues such as drinking alcohol, smoking and exercising.
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Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Climate Sensitivity Is High, Burning All Fossil Fuels Would Make Most Of Planet ‘Uninhabitable’
If we choose to put the future of our species at severe risk, why does our species deserve to exist?http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/09/17/1892241/hansen-climate-sensitivity-uninhabitable/
By Joe Romm on September 17, 2013
James Hansen, the country’s most prescient climatologist, is out with another must-read paper, “Climate sensitivity, sea level and atmospheric carbon dioxide.” The paper, co-authored by a number of Hansen’s former colleagues at NASA, is an antidote to the rosy scenarios the mainstream media have recently been pushing.
The key findings are
The Earth’s actual sensitivity to a doubling of CO2 levels from preindustrial levels (to 550 ppm) — including slow feedbacks — is likely to be larger than 3–4°C (5.4-7.2°F).
Given that we are headed towards a tripling (820 ppm) or quadrupling (1100 ppm) of atmospheric CO2 levels, inaction is untenable.
“Burning all fossil fuels” would warm land areas on average about 20°C (36°F) and warm the poles a stunning 30°C (54°F). This “would make most of the planet uninhabitable by humans, thus calling into question strategies that emphasize adaptation to climate change.”
Burning all or even most fossil fuels would be a true scorched Earth policy.
Given that James Hansen has been right about global warming for more than 3 decades, his climate warnings need to be taken seriously.
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If we stay anywhere near our current emissions path, we face catastrophic levels of warming.
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Hansen et al. note that this may not even require burning all of fossil fuels. It could happen on our current emissions path — if the slower (decadal) feedbacks are as strong as some paleoclimate analysis suggests. Back in 2011 we reported on a paleoclimate paper in Science that found we are headed towards CO2 levels in 2100 last seen when the Earth was 29°F (16°C) hotter.
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Dartmouth study shows difference in cognitive ability between low-income rural, urban children
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/dc-dss101413.php
Public release date: 14-Oct-2013
Contact: Shea Drefs
Dartmouth College
Kids in rural poverty score lower on visual, higher on verbal tests of working memory than urban counterparts
Studies have long shown a difference in cognitive ability between high- and low-income children, but for the first time, scientists have found a difference between low-income children growing up in rural areas and those growing up in urban environments.
Researchers at Dartmouth College have found that children growing up in rural poverty score significantly lower on visual working memory tests than their urban counterparts. However, children in urban poverty score slightly lower on tests of verbal working memory.
Working memory is the ability to keep information in mind while using that information to complete a task. It is a better predictor of academic success than IQ and is crucial to skills as diverse as reading, math processing, and decision making.
The results of the Dartmouth study appear online in the Journal of Cognition and Development and will be included in the journal's next print edition. A PDF is available now upon request.
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For example, rural areas tend to have less noise pollution than urban ones, and chronic noise pollution has been shown to hurt verbal working memory. On the other hand, rural areas lack visual stimuli common in cities – such as traffic, crowds, and signs – and this may give rural children less opportunity to develop their visual working memory, Tine surmises.
Prior research has shown environmental factors do not impact the cognitive ability of high-income children as much as low-income children, which is consistent with Tine's finding that wealthy children had almost identical working memory abilities, regardless of whether they lived in urban or rural environments.
Public release date: 14-Oct-2013
Contact: Shea Drefs
Dartmouth College
Kids in rural poverty score lower on visual, higher on verbal tests of working memory than urban counterparts
Studies have long shown a difference in cognitive ability between high- and low-income children, but for the first time, scientists have found a difference between low-income children growing up in rural areas and those growing up in urban environments.
Researchers at Dartmouth College have found that children growing up in rural poverty score significantly lower on visual working memory tests than their urban counterparts. However, children in urban poverty score slightly lower on tests of verbal working memory.
Working memory is the ability to keep information in mind while using that information to complete a task. It is a better predictor of academic success than IQ and is crucial to skills as diverse as reading, math processing, and decision making.
The results of the Dartmouth study appear online in the Journal of Cognition and Development and will be included in the journal's next print edition. A PDF is available now upon request.
-----
For example, rural areas tend to have less noise pollution than urban ones, and chronic noise pollution has been shown to hurt verbal working memory. On the other hand, rural areas lack visual stimuli common in cities – such as traffic, crowds, and signs – and this may give rural children less opportunity to develop their visual working memory, Tine surmises.
Prior research has shown environmental factors do not impact the cognitive ability of high-income children as much as low-income children, which is consistent with Tine's finding that wealthy children had almost identical working memory abilities, regardless of whether they lived in urban or rural environments.
Iraqi death toll from 2003-2011 war and subsequent conflict estimated at half a million
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/plos-idt100913.php
Public release date: 15-Oct-2013
Contact: Fiona Godwin
Public Library of Science
A scientific study calculating Iraqi deaths for almost the complete period of the US-led war and subsequent occupation published in PLOS Medicine this week reports that close to half a million Iraqi deaths are directly or indirectly attributable to the conflict. A team of researchers from Iraq and the US led by Amy Hagopian, of the University of Washington, conducted a survey in 2000 households across Iraq and used the data to estimate death rates for the two year-period before the war began in March 2003 and the subsequent years until mid-2011.
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Public release date: 15-Oct-2013
Contact: Fiona Godwin
Public Library of Science
A scientific study calculating Iraqi deaths for almost the complete period of the US-led war and subsequent occupation published in PLOS Medicine this week reports that close to half a million Iraqi deaths are directly or indirectly attributable to the conflict. A team of researchers from Iraq and the US led by Amy Hagopian, of the University of Washington, conducted a survey in 2000 households across Iraq and used the data to estimate death rates for the two year-period before the war began in March 2003 and the subsequent years until mid-2011.
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Pain of poverty sticks, despite support of neighbors or spouses
http://www.springer.com/about+springer/media/springer+select?SGWID=0-11001-6-1440544-0
15 October 2013
Being married or having the support of neighbors to rely on does little to alleviate the symptoms of depression associated with economic hardship often experienced by poor mothers. With these findings, published in Springer’s American Journal of Community Psychology, Sharon Kingston of Dickinson College in the US challenges the growing perception that marriage and other forms of interpersonal support can buffer the negative effects of poverty.
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15 October 2013
Being married or having the support of neighbors to rely on does little to alleviate the symptoms of depression associated with economic hardship often experienced by poor mothers. With these findings, published in Springer’s American Journal of Community Psychology, Sharon Kingston of Dickinson College in the US challenges the growing perception that marriage and other forms of interpersonal support can buffer the negative effects of poverty.
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Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Helps Lower Blood Pressure, Study Finds
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131015094436.htm
Oct. 15, 2013 — Blood pressure is effectively lowered by mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) for patients with borderline high blood pressure or "prehypertension," according to new research.
The finding is reported in the October issue of Psychosomatic Medicine: Journal of Biobehavioral Medicine, the official journal of the American Psychosomatic Society. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.
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Patients in the mindfulness-based intervention group had significant reductions in clinic-based blood pressure measurements. Systolic blood pressure (the first, higher number) decreased by an average of nearly 5 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg), compared to less than 1 mm Hg with in the control group who did not receive the mindfulness intervention.
Diastolic blood pressure (the second, lower number) was also lower in the mindfulness-based intervention group: a reduction of nearly 2 mm Hg, compared to an increase of 1 mm Hg in the control group.
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Oct. 15, 2013 — Blood pressure is effectively lowered by mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) for patients with borderline high blood pressure or "prehypertension," according to new research.
The finding is reported in the October issue of Psychosomatic Medicine: Journal of Biobehavioral Medicine, the official journal of the American Psychosomatic Society. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.
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Patients in the mindfulness-based intervention group had significant reductions in clinic-based blood pressure measurements. Systolic blood pressure (the first, higher number) decreased by an average of nearly 5 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg), compared to less than 1 mm Hg with in the control group who did not receive the mindfulness intervention.
Diastolic blood pressure (the second, lower number) was also lower in the mindfulness-based intervention group: a reduction of nearly 2 mm Hg, compared to an increase of 1 mm Hg in the control group.
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Monday, October 14, 2013
Air Pollution Increases Heart Attacks
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131007094229.htm
Oct. 7, 2013 — Air pollution increases heart attacks, according to research presented at the Acute Cardiac Care Congress 2013 by Dr Savina Nodari from Brescia, Italy.
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The study found a significant association between PM10 levels and admission for acute cardiovascular events such as acute coronary syndromes, heart failure, worsening heart failure, paroxysmal atrial fibrillation and ventricular arrhythmias. The effect was linear, with a 3% increase in admissions for every 10 microgram increase in PM10.
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Oct. 7, 2013 — Air pollution increases heart attacks, according to research presented at the Acute Cardiac Care Congress 2013 by Dr Savina Nodari from Brescia, Italy.
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The study found a significant association between PM10 levels and admission for acute cardiovascular events such as acute coronary syndromes, heart failure, worsening heart failure, paroxysmal atrial fibrillation and ventricular arrhythmias. The effect was linear, with a 3% increase in admissions for every 10 microgram increase in PM10.
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Irregular Bedtimes Linked to Behavioral Problems in Children
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131014093859.htm
Oct. 14, 2013 — Researchers from UCL have found that children with irregular bedtimes are more likely to have behavioural difficulties.
The study, which is published in the journal Pediatrics, found that irregular bedtimes could disrupt natural body rhythms and cause sleep deprivation, undermining brain maturation and the ability to regulate certain behaviours.
Professor Yvonne Kelly (UCL Epidemiology & Public Health), said: "Not having fixed bedtimes, accompanied by a constant sense of flux, induces a state of body and mind akin to jet lag and this matters for healthy development and daily functioning."
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Oct. 14, 2013 — Researchers from UCL have found that children with irregular bedtimes are more likely to have behavioural difficulties.
The study, which is published in the journal Pediatrics, found that irregular bedtimes could disrupt natural body rhythms and cause sleep deprivation, undermining brain maturation and the ability to regulate certain behaviours.
Professor Yvonne Kelly (UCL Epidemiology & Public Health), said: "Not having fixed bedtimes, accompanied by a constant sense of flux, induces a state of body and mind akin to jet lag and this matters for healthy development and daily functioning."
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Reagan-Appointed Judge Recants His Decision Upholding Voter ID
Republican states, including Georgia, passed voter id laws, saying they were needed to prevent voter fraud. At the same time, they installed electronic voting machines which had no paper trail, and made absentee voting easier.http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/10/14/2776761/reagan-appointed-judge-recants-decision-upholding-voter/
By Ian Millhiser on October 14, 2013
Judge Richard Posner authored a federal appeals court decision upholding the nation’s first voter ID law, a common voter suppression law that disproportionately disenfranchises people of color, students and low income voters. The Supreme Court, while technically deciding the case on a narrower grounds than Posner’s opinion, later ensured that voter ID laws would flourish by making them virtually impossible to challenge under the Constitution.
In an interview with Huffington Post Live’s Mike Sacks on Friday, however, Judge Posner said he made a mistake in the voter ID case, pointing to the fact that there was too little evidence of the harms voter ID would inflict at the time he handed down his decision. “[T]he problem,” Posner explained, “is that there hadn’t been that much activity with voter identification.” He blames his erroneous decision on the fact that the evidence presented to him at the time didn’t provide “strong indications that requiring additional voter identification would actually disfranchise people entitled to vote.”
Now, however, there are numerous studies examining the impact of voter ID, and even the more conservative estimates suggest that these laws will prevent 2 to 3 percent of registered voters from actually casting their ballots. Meanwhile, while voter ID’s defenders claim that the laws are necessary to prevent voter fraud at the polls, such fraud is virtually non-existent. One Wisconsin study found that just 0.00023 percent of votes stem from in-person voter fraud.
UFO? Astro ghost? Find out what that spooky space cloud really was
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/ufo-astro-ghost-find-out-what-spooky-space-cloud-really-8C11390533
Alan Boyle, Science Editor NBC News
Oct. 14, 2013
UFO reports from Russia and spooky pictures from the International Space Station have been traced to the same phenomenon: a Russian missile launch that took place last Thursday.
One of the spookiest things about the UFO sightings is that they were predicted in advance.
"Russia just test-fired a Topol ICBM from the Kapustin Yar range on the lower Volga, to the Shary Shagan impact zone in Kazakhstan," NBC News space analyst James Oberg reported Thursday on the Above Top Secret forum. "In the past, such launches have been seen over a wide area, as far away as Israel and Syria, and reported as UFOs. ... If the weather was clear, we might expect some spectacular videos to show up on YouTube and RUTube."
----- [see the link above for neat photos]
Alan Boyle, Science Editor NBC News
Oct. 14, 2013
UFO reports from Russia and spooky pictures from the International Space Station have been traced to the same phenomenon: a Russian missile launch that took place last Thursday.
One of the spookiest things about the UFO sightings is that they were predicted in advance.
"Russia just test-fired a Topol ICBM from the Kapustin Yar range on the lower Volga, to the Shary Shagan impact zone in Kazakhstan," NBC News space analyst James Oberg reported Thursday on the Above Top Secret forum. "In the past, such launches have been seen over a wide area, as far away as Israel and Syria, and reported as UFOs. ... If the weather was clear, we might expect some spectacular videos to show up on YouTube and RUTube."
----- [see the link above for neat photos]
Tenn. spike in drug-dependent newborns is warning to nation
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/just-flooding-us-tenn-spike-drug-dependent-newborns-warning-nation-8C11375654
JoNel Aleccia NBC News
Oct. 11, 2013
On an average day, neonatal nurse practitioner Carla Saunders faces two dozen babies born hooked on drugs, infants so sick with the pain of withdrawal that they cry nonstop, claw their faces and writhe in agony at the sound of a voice or the touch of hand. But that’s just the average.
“Today, it may be even higher,” says Saunders, who staffs the 60-bed intensive care unit at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital in Knoxville, Tenn. “It’s been as high as 37.”
The babies are part of a grim trend in Tennessee, where a new report shows that the number of newborns dependent on drugs their mothers took during pregnancy is higher than ever — and experts say it should be a warning to the rest of the nation.
“At the current rate this epidemic is progressing, we are projecting more than 800 drug-dependent newborns by the end of this year,” said Dr. John Dreyzehner, the commissioner for the Tennessee Department of Health.
Already this year, the Volunteer state has counted more babies born with symptoms of withdrawal from opiates — a condition known as neonatal abstinence syndrome, or NAS — than they saw in all of 2011.
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Overall, an estimated 13,539 babies were born with NAS in the U.S. in 2009 -- or about one every hour-- according to a 2012 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. That’s nearly triple the number in 2000, researchers said.
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America’s prescription drug abuse problem is no secret. Drug overdoses have exceeded motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of accidental death in the U.S. since 2009. Some 17,000 people die each year from opiate overdoses, more than quadruple the number a decade ago, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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“In general, they are crying 24/7. They are inconsolable,” Saunders said. They claw at their faces, they have tremors, they go rigid with pain and stress. The babies have trouble eating and suffer from frequent diarrhea, which leaves their bottoms bleeding and raw.
Caregivers try to ease the babies through withdrawal, which can take about a week, with soothing care, including swaddling and rocking in dark, quiet rooms. But many infants have to be dosed with morphine or methadone, also opiates, and then slowly weaned off the drugs.
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Anger is the natural reaction of many who encounter drug-affected babies writhing in pain, but Saunders and other health experts said that reaction doesn’t help anyone. Even a short course of opiates can lead to dependence and many pregnant women can’t stop ‘cold turkey,’ she said.
“Any one of us is an accident away from being an addict,” she said.
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JoNel Aleccia NBC News
Oct. 11, 2013
On an average day, neonatal nurse practitioner Carla Saunders faces two dozen babies born hooked on drugs, infants so sick with the pain of withdrawal that they cry nonstop, claw their faces and writhe in agony at the sound of a voice or the touch of hand. But that’s just the average.
“Today, it may be even higher,” says Saunders, who staffs the 60-bed intensive care unit at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital in Knoxville, Tenn. “It’s been as high as 37.”
The babies are part of a grim trend in Tennessee, where a new report shows that the number of newborns dependent on drugs their mothers took during pregnancy is higher than ever — and experts say it should be a warning to the rest of the nation.
“At the current rate this epidemic is progressing, we are projecting more than 800 drug-dependent newborns by the end of this year,” said Dr. John Dreyzehner, the commissioner for the Tennessee Department of Health.
Already this year, the Volunteer state has counted more babies born with symptoms of withdrawal from opiates — a condition known as neonatal abstinence syndrome, or NAS — than they saw in all of 2011.
-----
Overall, an estimated 13,539 babies were born with NAS in the U.S. in 2009 -- or about one every hour-- according to a 2012 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. That’s nearly triple the number in 2000, researchers said.
-----
America’s prescription drug abuse problem is no secret. Drug overdoses have exceeded motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of accidental death in the U.S. since 2009. Some 17,000 people die each year from opiate overdoses, more than quadruple the number a decade ago, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
-----
“In general, they are crying 24/7. They are inconsolable,” Saunders said. They claw at their faces, they have tremors, they go rigid with pain and stress. The babies have trouble eating and suffer from frequent diarrhea, which leaves their bottoms bleeding and raw.
Caregivers try to ease the babies through withdrawal, which can take about a week, with soothing care, including swaddling and rocking in dark, quiet rooms. But many infants have to be dosed with morphine or methadone, also opiates, and then slowly weaned off the drugs.
-----
Anger is the natural reaction of many who encounter drug-affected babies writhing in pain, but Saunders and other health experts said that reaction doesn’t help anyone. Even a short course of opiates can lead to dependence and many pregnant women can’t stop ‘cold turkey,’ she said.
“Any one of us is an accident away from being an addict,” she said.
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Thursday, October 10, 2013
Aircraft Noise Linked to Heart Disease, Study Suggests
Surely it is not just aircraft noise that is damaging.http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131009100602.htm
Oct. 9, 2013 — Exposure to high levels of aircraft noise is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, find two new studies.
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The researchers found increased risks of stroke, coronary heart disease, and cardiovascular disease for both hospital admissions and mortality, especially among the 2% of the study population exposed to the highest levels of daytime and night time aircraft noise.
Factors that could have affected the results, such as age, sex, ethnicity, social deprivation, smoking, air pollution, and road traffic noise were also taken into account.
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However, the authors were unable to distinguish between night time and daytime noise and say more research is needed to determine if night time noise that disrupts sleep may be a mechanism underlying these associations.
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America’s children are the silent victims of the Great Recession
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2013/10/americas-children-are-the-silent-victims-of-the-great-recession.html
http://milescorak.com/2013/10/08/americas-children-are-the-silent-victims-of-the-great-recession/
October 8, 2013
The Great Recession has disrupted the lives of families and their children in an unprecedented way.
It has changed everyday life in some ways that can be measured by money, but in others that cannot, and at the extreme it has even led to a six-fold increase in the risk children will be physically abused.
Lost jobs, falling incomes, and foreclosures will likely compromise the capacity of children to become all that they can be, with the effects of the recession echoing not just across years, but also across generations.
Recessions do not normally figure into the way economists think about the factors determining the adult prospects of children. Unemployment spells are usually short, temporary events. In gauging the capacities of families to invest in and promote the capabilities of their children, it is important to look past the changes in incomes that result, and focus on the long-term, more permanent, resources available to parents.
Family income measured in any single year is, for example, not a good predictor of the adult incomes of children, but an average over, say, 10 years offers a better picture of family wealth, and is much more strongly associated with adult outcomes.
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The loss in income matters, but so do the other accompanying changes that will also influence the way they lead their lives. The Great Recession has certainly caused major, long-term income losses for many families, but this matters all the more because it was associated with the bursting of a housing bubble that unleashed an unprecedented number of foreclosures.
This means some children are not only living in poorer families, but that they also face the disruptions associated with changing schools, neighbourhoods, and even cities. Frequent moves and a repeated loss of friends and networks lowers high school graduation rates, and the adult incomes kids will ultimately earn.
The Great Recession didn’t just deplete bank accounts and disseminate home equity; it also ushered in a major crisis of confidence. Family life, even among those who did not experience job loss, is much more stressful, making parenting a bigger challenge.
Children benefit most from a so-called “authoritative” parenting style, a loving and warm relationship that also offers clear expectations of behaviour and accomplishment. But financial strain, whether subjective or not, taxes the energies of parents, and raises the likelihood of “authoritarian” behaviour, which involves strict adherence to rules, and unfair punishment to enforce them.
A telling, if extreme, example is a recent finding that during the Great Recession children have been more likely to fall victim to physical abuse.
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http://milescorak.com/2013/10/08/americas-children-are-the-silent-victims-of-the-great-recession/
October 8, 2013
The Great Recession has disrupted the lives of families and their children in an unprecedented way.
It has changed everyday life in some ways that can be measured by money, but in others that cannot, and at the extreme it has even led to a six-fold increase in the risk children will be physically abused.
Lost jobs, falling incomes, and foreclosures will likely compromise the capacity of children to become all that they can be, with the effects of the recession echoing not just across years, but also across generations.
Recessions do not normally figure into the way economists think about the factors determining the adult prospects of children. Unemployment spells are usually short, temporary events. In gauging the capacities of families to invest in and promote the capabilities of their children, it is important to look past the changes in incomes that result, and focus on the long-term, more permanent, resources available to parents.
Family income measured in any single year is, for example, not a good predictor of the adult incomes of children, but an average over, say, 10 years offers a better picture of family wealth, and is much more strongly associated with adult outcomes.
-----
The loss in income matters, but so do the other accompanying changes that will also influence the way they lead their lives. The Great Recession has certainly caused major, long-term income losses for many families, but this matters all the more because it was associated with the bursting of a housing bubble that unleashed an unprecedented number of foreclosures.
This means some children are not only living in poorer families, but that they also face the disruptions associated with changing schools, neighbourhoods, and even cities. Frequent moves and a repeated loss of friends and networks lowers high school graduation rates, and the adult incomes kids will ultimately earn.
The Great Recession didn’t just deplete bank accounts and disseminate home equity; it also ushered in a major crisis of confidence. Family life, even among those who did not experience job loss, is much more stressful, making parenting a bigger challenge.
Children benefit most from a so-called “authoritative” parenting style, a loving and warm relationship that also offers clear expectations of behaviour and accomplishment. But financial strain, whether subjective or not, taxes the energies of parents, and raises the likelihood of “authoritarian” behaviour, which involves strict adherence to rules, and unfair punishment to enforce them.
A telling, if extreme, example is a recent finding that during the Great Recession children have been more likely to fall victim to physical abuse.
-----
Former Wall Street Journal Meteorologist Explains Why He Decided Never To Fly Again
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/10/08/2710111/meteorologist-ipcc-reaction-flying/
http://coolclimate.berkeley.edu/carboncalculator
By Rebecca Leber on October 8, 2013
or a meteorologist like Eric Holthaus, the fifth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is something like waiting for the Super Bowl for six years. Holthaus, who writes for Quartz and formerly for the Wall Street Journal, was awake at 4 a.m. on a Friday morning reading through the summary that made it clear the world is running out of time to act. Boarding a plane home to Wisconsin, he broke down in tears. He determined to stop flying, a decision that has gained national attention. “It’s not worth the climate,” one of his tweets said.
IPCC’s conclusion, in short, is that scientists are unequivocally certain that the Earth is warming and that humans are the dominant cause. Without immediate action to curb emissions, the world has little chance to limit warming to 2°C. We only need to burn 10 percent of fossil fuels reserves to blow past that upper limit.
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In an interview with Climate Progress, Holthaus said he thought, “Well, that’s it,” as he read the report. “There’s no way we can wait anymore for world leaders to take action on this.” That’s what made him decide, as a as a meteorologist who has covered climate change for more than 10 years, to stop flying. He doesn’t consider it a drastic change, but leading by example.
“I do everything, I recycle, I don’t own a car, I’m a vegetarian, all of the things that are reducing my carbon footprint. But I also fly 75,000 miles a year,” he said. “So when I plugged that in a carbon calculator, it’s like, wow, I have double the emission of the average American and here I am every day telling people to take action and I’m not doing it myself.”
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As a meteorologist, Holthaus says he feels compelled to do what he can personally, while being an unbiased source of information for the public. “As a journalist and as a scientist I have to talk about facts,” he said. “The truth is there is no remaining doubt and there’s no need to waver on the issue of do humans cause climate change anymore. So I think my reporting and my response as a human and a fellow person on the planet — I think that of course — it should reflect that.”
Congressmen Pressure Boehner To Close House Members-Only Gym
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/10/08/2753831/congressmen-pressure-gym-closure/
By Aviva Shen on October 8, 2013
Members of Congress are circulating letters calling on House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) to close the members-only gym as long as the shutdown continues.
As ThinkProgress reported Tuesday, the shutdown closed the Congressional staff gym, but, thanks to Boehner’s office, the members’ gym has remained open through the shutdown.
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By Aviva Shen on October 8, 2013
Members of Congress are circulating letters calling on House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) to close the members-only gym as long as the shutdown continues.
As ThinkProgress reported Tuesday, the shutdown closed the Congressional staff gym, but, thanks to Boehner’s office, the members’ gym has remained open through the shutdown.
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104 Republicans Who Are In Congress Today Voted To Increase The Debt Ceiling Under Bush Without Hostage Threats
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/10/09/2754141/republicans-clean-debt-limit-2004/
By Josh Israel on October 9, 2013
Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) reiterated on Sunday that House Republicans would not allow a clean vote to raise the debt limit and ensure the full faith and credit of the United States of America. But while now Congressional Republicans demand everything from the destruction of the Affordable Care Act to a constitutional amendment in exchange for allowing the government to pay for what it has already incurred, many of them made no such demands nine years ago when a Republican was in the White House.
Boehner says that Congressional Republicans “are not going to pass a clean debt limit increase” because “it is time to deal with America’s problems.” But in 2004, he joined with 205 other House Republicans to pass S. 2986, a bill that added $800 billion to the nation’s statutory debt ceiling with no strings attached.
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By Josh Israel on October 9, 2013
Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) reiterated on Sunday that House Republicans would not allow a clean vote to raise the debt limit and ensure the full faith and credit of the United States of America. But while now Congressional Republicans demand everything from the destruction of the Affordable Care Act to a constitutional amendment in exchange for allowing the government to pay for what it has already incurred, many of them made no such demands nine years ago when a Republican was in the White House.
Boehner says that Congressional Republicans “are not going to pass a clean debt limit increase” because “it is time to deal with America’s problems.” But in 2004, he joined with 205 other House Republicans to pass S. 2986, a bill that added $800 billion to the nation’s statutory debt ceiling with no strings attached.
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NY Fed Fired Examiner Who Took on Goldman
http://www.propublica.org/article/ny-fed-fired-examiner-who-took-on-goldman
by Jake Bernstein
ProPublica, Oct. 10, 2013
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Under a Fed mandate, the investment banking behemoth was expected to have a company-wide policy to address conflicts of interest in how its phalanxes of dealmakers handled clients. Although Goldman had a patchwork of policies, the examiner concluded that they fell short of the Fed’s requirements.
That finding by the examiner, Carmen Segarra, potentially had serious implications for Goldman, which was already under fire for advising clients on both sides of several multibillion-dollar deals and allegedly putting the bank’s own interests above those of its customers. It could have led to closer scrutiny of Goldman by regulators or changes to its business practices.
Before she could formalize her findings, Segarra said, the senior New York Fed official who oversees Goldman pressured her to change them. When she refused, Segarra said she was called to a meeting where her bosses told her they no longer trusted her judgment. Her phone was confiscated, and security officers marched her out of the Fed’s fortress-like building in lower Manhattan, just 7 months after being hired.
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Goldman is known for having close ties with the New York Fed, its primary regulator. The current president of the New York Fed, William Dudley, is a former Goldman partner. One of his New York Fed predecessors, E. Gerald Corrigan, is currently a top executive at Goldman. At the time of Segarra’s firing, Stephen Friedman, a former chairman of the New York Fed, was head of the risk committee for Goldman’s board of directors.
by Jake Bernstein
ProPublica, Oct. 10, 2013
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Under a Fed mandate, the investment banking behemoth was expected to have a company-wide policy to address conflicts of interest in how its phalanxes of dealmakers handled clients. Although Goldman had a patchwork of policies, the examiner concluded that they fell short of the Fed’s requirements.
That finding by the examiner, Carmen Segarra, potentially had serious implications for Goldman, which was already under fire for advising clients on both sides of several multibillion-dollar deals and allegedly putting the bank’s own interests above those of its customers. It could have led to closer scrutiny of Goldman by regulators or changes to its business practices.
Before she could formalize her findings, Segarra said, the senior New York Fed official who oversees Goldman pressured her to change them. When she refused, Segarra said she was called to a meeting where her bosses told her they no longer trusted her judgment. Her phone was confiscated, and security officers marched her out of the Fed’s fortress-like building in lower Manhattan, just 7 months after being hired.
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Goldman is known for having close ties with the New York Fed, its primary regulator. The current president of the New York Fed, William Dudley, is a former Goldman partner. One of his New York Fed predecessors, E. Gerald Corrigan, is currently a top executive at Goldman. At the time of Segarra’s firing, Stephen Friedman, a former chairman of the New York Fed, was head of the risk committee for Goldman’s board of directors.
'Uncomfortable' climates to devastate cities within a decade, study says
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/uncomfortable-climates-devastate-cities-within-decade-study-says-8C11363468
John Roach NBC News
Oct. 9, 2013 at 1:17 PM ET
The world is hurtling toward a stark future where the web of life unravels, human cultures are uprooted, and millions of species go extinct, according to a new study. This doomsday scenario isn't far off, either: It may start within a decade in parts of Indonesia, and begin playing out over most of the world — including cities across the United States — by mid-century.
What's more, even a serious effort to stabilize spiraling greenhouse gas emissions will only stave off these changes until around 2069, notes the study from the University of Hawaii, Manoa, published online Wednesday in the journal Nature. The authors warn that the time is now to prepare for a world where even the coldest of years will be warmer than the hottest years of the past century and a half.
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Yes, the climate is warming rapidly in the Arctic and the effects are profound. But climate variabilityOn average, the tropics will experience unprecedented climate change 16 years earlier than the rest of the world, starting as early as 2020" in Manokwari, Indonesia, Mora said in a briefing with reporters on Tuesday.
Under a business-as-usual scenario where humans keep burning fossil fuels as they are today, globally that threshold is crossed around 2047. Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic crosses it in 2026, Paris in 2054, and Austin, Texas, in 2058, for example. If greenhouse gas emissions are stabilized, these dates are delayed only by several decades. in the northern latitudes is much greater than in the tropics. In the already steamy parts of the globe, warming of even a few degrees can upset the balance of life and cripple agricultural yields, bringing climate change to the doorstep of billions of people.
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On average, the tropics will experience unprecedented climate change 16 years earlier than the rest of the world, starting as early as 2020" in Manokwari, Indonesia, Mora said in a briefing with reporters on Tuesday.
Under a business-as-usual scenario where humans keep burning fossil fuels as they are today, globally that threshold is crossed around 2047. Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic crosses it in 2026, Paris in 2054, and Austin, Texas, in 2058, for example. If greenhouse gas emissions are stabilized, these dates are delayed only by several decades.
-----
John Roach NBC News
Oct. 9, 2013 at 1:17 PM ET
The world is hurtling toward a stark future where the web of life unravels, human cultures are uprooted, and millions of species go extinct, according to a new study. This doomsday scenario isn't far off, either: It may start within a decade in parts of Indonesia, and begin playing out over most of the world — including cities across the United States — by mid-century.
What's more, even a serious effort to stabilize spiraling greenhouse gas emissions will only stave off these changes until around 2069, notes the study from the University of Hawaii, Manoa, published online Wednesday in the journal Nature. The authors warn that the time is now to prepare for a world where even the coldest of years will be warmer than the hottest years of the past century and a half.
-----
Yes, the climate is warming rapidly in the Arctic and the effects are profound. But climate variabilityOn average, the tropics will experience unprecedented climate change 16 years earlier than the rest of the world, starting as early as 2020" in Manokwari, Indonesia, Mora said in a briefing with reporters on Tuesday.
Under a business-as-usual scenario where humans keep burning fossil fuels as they are today, globally that threshold is crossed around 2047. Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic crosses it in 2026, Paris in 2054, and Austin, Texas, in 2058, for example. If greenhouse gas emissions are stabilized, these dates are delayed only by several decades. in the northern latitudes is much greater than in the tropics. In the already steamy parts of the globe, warming of even a few degrees can upset the balance of life and cripple agricultural yields, bringing climate change to the doorstep of billions of people.
-----
On average, the tropics will experience unprecedented climate change 16 years earlier than the rest of the world, starting as early as 2020" in Manokwari, Indonesia, Mora said in a briefing with reporters on Tuesday.
Under a business-as-usual scenario where humans keep burning fossil fuels as they are today, globally that threshold is crossed around 2047. Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic crosses it in 2026, Paris in 2054, and Austin, Texas, in 2058, for example. If greenhouse gas emissions are stabilized, these dates are delayed only by several decades.
-----
Multivitamins With Minerals May Protect Older Women With Invasive Breast Cancer
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131009105751.htm
Oct. 9, 2013 — Findings from a study involving thousands of postmenopausal women suggest that women who develop invasive breast cancer may benefit from taking supplements containing both multivitamins and minerals. The new research, published today in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, found that the risk of dying from invasive breast cancer was 30 percent lower among multivitamin/mineral users compared with nonusers.
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Oct. 9, 2013 — Findings from a study involving thousands of postmenopausal women suggest that women who develop invasive breast cancer may benefit from taking supplements containing both multivitamins and minerals. The new research, published today in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, found that the risk of dying from invasive breast cancer was 30 percent lower among multivitamin/mineral users compared with nonusers.
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Tuesday, October 08, 2013
Abusive Parenting Hard to Overcome
How sad for both the children and parents.http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131008091742.htm
Perhaps teaching the parents how to meditate, and to learn new habits of thinking could help.
Oct. 8, 2013 — Parents who physically abuse their children appear to have a physiological response that subsequently triggers more harsh parenting when they attempt parenting in warm, positive ways, according to new research.
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What emerged, Skowron said, were clear distinctions between abusive, neglectful and non-maltreating mothers in their physiological responses during parenting. When abusive mothers were more warm and nurturing, they began to experience more difficulty regulating their heart rate and staying calm. This physiological-based stress response then led the abusive mothers to become more hostile and controlling toward their child a short time later in the interaction.
The same was not the case for mothers who had been previously identified as being physically neglectful or for mothers with no history of neglectful or abusive parenting.
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"Abusive mothers who try to warmly support their child when the child faced a moderate challenge displayed a physiological response that suggested they're stressed, on alert and preparing to defend against a threat of some kind," said Skowron, a researcher at the Child and Family Center/Prevention Science Institute at the UO. "This kind of physiological response then led to a shift in an abusive mother becoming more hostile, strict, and controlling ways with her young child, regardless of how her child was behaving."
The findings, she added, suggest that when physically abusive mothers experience being a nurturing parent they find it to be hard work. "It appears to quickly wear them out, perhaps because it challenges them in ways that lower-risk mothers don't experience," she said. "An abusive mother appears caught: When she does a good job with her child, it costs her physiologically, and it negatively affects her because it leads to more aversive parenting."
The team's findings help to explain why abusive parenting is so resistant to most interventions, Skowron said. "Most parents who struggle with child maltreatment really love their children and want help improving their parenting skills. Our findings suggest that many are experiencing a biological response during parenting that actively interferes with their efforts to parent in warm and nurturing ways."
The next step, she said, is exploring how to translate the new discovery into interventions specifically designed for parents struggling with child abusive. "We have to figure out how to help these high-risk parents calm themselves down more effectively and enjoy the experience of supporting their children in warm, positive ways. First, she noted, it will be important for other researchers to replicate the findings.
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tags: child abuse
Billionaire couple donates $10 million to Head Start programs closed by U.S. government shutdown
Thank you very much, Laura and John Arnold.http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/07/20860381-billionaire-couple-donates-10-million-to-head-start-programs-closed-by-us-government-shutdown?lite
By Elisha Fieldstadt, NBC News
Oct. 7, 2013
A philanthropic billionaire couple pledged up to $10 million in an effort to fund Head Start programs that could no longer operate due to the ongoing government shutdown, officials announced on Monday.
Laura and John Arnold provided the money needed to reopen the seven Head Start programs in six states that were expecting to receive their federally allotted grants on Oct. 1 but were forced to close when the government closed many of their own offices on Tuesday, said Sally Aman, a Head Start spokeswoman.
Head Start serves “the poorest of the poor in our country from ages 0-5 to get them ready for kindergarten,” Aman said. She added that over 7,000 children have been affected by the closures.
Empathy Helps Children to Understand Sarcasm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131008165359.htm
Oct. 8, 2013 — The greater the empathy skills of children, the easier it is for them to recognize sarcasm, according to a new study in the open-access journal Frontiers in Psychology.
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Oct. 8, 2013 — The greater the empathy skills of children, the easier it is for them to recognize sarcasm, according to a new study in the open-access journal Frontiers in Psychology.
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Monday, October 07, 2013
No news is not good news
What I haven't heard mentioned by the media (including NPR) is that The Affordable Care Act/Obamacare is already a compromise with Republicans, who wanted to protect and help the insurance companies that donate to them.
Another fact missing from the news is that he majority of voters voted for Democrats for the U.S. House last year. It was because of Republican gerrymandering & voter suppression that a comfortable majority of Republicans were elected to the House.
Another fact missing from the news is that he majority of voters voted for Democrats for the U.S. House last year. It was because of Republican gerrymandering & voter suppression that a comfortable majority of Republicans were elected to the House.
Sunday, October 06, 2013
Biochar in Soils Cuts Greenhouse Gas Emissions
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131004090618.htm
Oct. 4, 2013 — University of Tübingen microbiologists show soil microbe communities can be influenced to decrease nitrous oxide emissions.
Introducing biochar into agricultural soils changes the composition and activity of microorganisms in a way that emissions of nitrous oxide -- also known as laughing gas (N2O) -- are significantly reduced, according to researchers Johannes Harter and Hans-Martin Krause. Their study was supervised by environmental microbiologist Dr. Sebastian Behrens and geomicrobiologist Professor Andreas Kappler of the Center for Applied Geosciences at the University of Tübingen in cooperation with researchers from the University of Hohenheim. The results are important not only for a sustainable, more effective use of nitrogen fertilizers; they also present a new possibility for reducing greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.
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Oct. 4, 2013 — University of Tübingen microbiologists show soil microbe communities can be influenced to decrease nitrous oxide emissions.
Introducing biochar into agricultural soils changes the composition and activity of microorganisms in a way that emissions of nitrous oxide -- also known as laughing gas (N2O) -- are significantly reduced, according to researchers Johannes Harter and Hans-Martin Krause. Their study was supervised by environmental microbiologist Dr. Sebastian Behrens and geomicrobiologist Professor Andreas Kappler of the Center for Applied Geosciences at the University of Tübingen in cooperation with researchers from the University of Hohenheim. The results are important not only for a sustainable, more effective use of nitrogen fertilizers; they also present a new possibility for reducing greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.
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Study Links Moderate Activity to Lower Breast Cancer Risk
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131004090815.htm
Oct. 4, 2013 — Researchers from the American Cancer Society have found that walking at least 7 hours per week is associated with a 14% lower risk of developing breast cancer after menopause. This finding is consistent with many other studies that show regular exercise can help women lower their risk of breast cancer. New information in this study found the exercise helped women whether or not they were overweight, and helped them even if they gained weight during the study.
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Oct. 4, 2013 — Researchers from the American Cancer Society have found that walking at least 7 hours per week is associated with a 14% lower risk of developing breast cancer after menopause. This finding is consistent with many other studies that show regular exercise can help women lower their risk of breast cancer. New information in this study found the exercise helped women whether or not they were overweight, and helped them even if they gained weight during the study.
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Fecal Transplant Pill Knocks out Recurrent C. Diff Infection
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131004105253.htm
Oct. 4, 2013 — Swallowing pills containing a concentrate of fecal bacteria successfully stops recurrent bouts of debilitating Clostridium difficile (C. diff) infection by rebalancing the bacteria in the gut, suggests a study being presented at the IDWeek 2013™ meeting today.
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Oct. 4, 2013 — Swallowing pills containing a concentrate of fecal bacteria successfully stops recurrent bouts of debilitating Clostridium difficile (C. diff) infection by rebalancing the bacteria in the gut, suggests a study being presented at the IDWeek 2013™ meeting today.
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Friday, October 04, 2013
Help wanted: Successful candidate must be nice
Hope this is a strong trend. In recent years, there seems to be more jerky managers than in the past. My next door neighbor has retired because he got tired of jerky managers.http://www.today.com/money/help-wanted-successful-candidate-must-be-nice-8C11323114
I am much more productive when working for a nice person.
Allison Linn
Oct. 4, 2013
The job listing for a communications manager specified that the applicant must be “Nice: Life is too short to work with jerks.”
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Most companies don't explicitly say they're looking to hire people who aren’t nice, but let's face it: In today’s tight job market, many companies seem to favor aggressive workers, a win-at-all-costs attitude and a cutthroat mentality.
A handful of companies are bucking that trend by specifically recruiting workers who aren’t, well, jerks.
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Albrecht said the idea to specify that they were looking for nice candidates came after talking to company managers about which employees were the highest performers. The company executives found that the positive, generous employees seemed to do best, while the negative complainers were the most problematic.
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House Republican Who Supports Government Shutdown Refuses to Give Up Pay Until After Nov 1
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/10/04/house-republican-supports-government-shutdown-refuses-give-pay-nov-1.html
By: Jason EasleyOct. 4th, 2013
Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) supports the government shutdown, but claims that she needs her paycheck. She has announced that she won’t give up her pay unless the shutdown is still going on after November 1.
By: Jason EasleyOct. 4th, 2013
Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) supports the government shutdown, but claims that she needs her paycheck. She has announced that she won’t give up her pay unless the shutdown is still going on after November 1.
Thursday, October 03, 2013
Transgendered Males Seen as an Asset to Some Ancestral Societies
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131002131440.htm
Oct. 2, 2013 — Transgendered androphilic males were accepted in traditional hunter-gatherer cultures because they were an extra set of hands to support their families. Conversely, by investing in and supporting their kin, these males ensured that their familial line -- and therefore also their own genetic make-up -- passed on to future generations despite their not having children of their own. This is according to an ethnographic study led by Doug VanderLaan of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Canada, published in Springer's journal Human Nature. The study reports that this "kin selection" is still at play in pro-transgender societies today.
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Oct. 2, 2013 — Transgendered androphilic males were accepted in traditional hunter-gatherer cultures because they were an extra set of hands to support their families. Conversely, by investing in and supporting their kin, these males ensured that their familial line -- and therefore also their own genetic make-up -- passed on to future generations despite their not having children of their own. This is according to an ethnographic study led by Doug VanderLaan of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Canada, published in Springer's journal Human Nature. The study reports that this "kin selection" is still at play in pro-transgender societies today.
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Researchers Find Historic Ocean Acidification Levels: ‘The Next Mass Extinction May Have Already Begun’
I guess that is on top of the already on-going mass extinctions caused by human action, including global warming and habitat loss.http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/10/03/2725431/unprecedented-ocean-acidification/
You might remember from science classes that more colder water can hold more of a gas than warmer water. That is why water boils when it is heated - the gas is coming out of solution.
By Katie Valentine on October 3, 2013
The oceans are more acidic now than they’ve been at any time in the last 300 million years [300,000,000], conditions that marine scientists warn could lead to a mass extinction of key species.
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Acidification causes major harm to marine ecosystems, especially coral, which has a hard time building up its calcium carbonate skeleton in acidic water. Coral reefs serve as nurseries to many young fish, so they’re essential both to ecosystem health and the survival of the fishing industry. If temperatures rise by 2 degrees C, the study found, coral may stop growing altogether, and may start to dissolve at 3 degrees C. Similarily, acidic ocean waters can hamper shellfish larvae’s ability to grow shells. Acidification is already hurting the shellfish industry — in the U.S., northwestern and East Coast shellfish industries have struggled to adapt to increasingly acidic waters. And pteropods, tiny sea snails that are a keystone species in the Arctic and are an essential food source for many birds, fish and whales, are also threatened by acidity — they too require strong calcium carbonate shells to survive.
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Meanwhile, depletion of oxygen is caused by two things: climate change and nutrient runoff, mostly from agriculture, the report stated. Scientists have predicted ocean oxygen content could experience a decline of between 1 and 7 percent by 2100.
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tags: historical global warming, historical climate change,
Citing death risk, FDA adds most severe warning to Pfizer's Tygacil
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/citing-death-risk-fda-adds-most-severe-warning-pfizers-tygacil-8C11281667
Sep. 27, 2013
Regulators are putting their harshest warning on Pfizer's antibiotic Tygacil, saying the drug is associated with an increased risk of death.
The Food and Drug Administration said Friday Tygacil, or tigecycline, should only be used in situations when other treatments aren't suitable. The intravenous drug is approved as a treatment for complicated skin and skin structure infections and community-acquired bacterial pneumonia. The FDA will add a boxed warning to the drug label, its most serious type of warning.
In 2010 the FDA said Tygacil was associated with a greater risk of death than other antibacterial drugs. It says a new analysis confirmed that conclusion. The risk was greatest in patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia. Tygacil hasn't been approved for that condition.
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Sep. 27, 2013
Regulators are putting their harshest warning on Pfizer's antibiotic Tygacil, saying the drug is associated with an increased risk of death.
The Food and Drug Administration said Friday Tygacil, or tigecycline, should only be used in situations when other treatments aren't suitable. The intravenous drug is approved as a treatment for complicated skin and skin structure infections and community-acquired bacterial pneumonia. The FDA will add a boxed warning to the drug label, its most serious type of warning.
In 2010 the FDA said Tygacil was associated with a greater risk of death than other antibacterial drugs. It says a new analysis confirmed that conclusion. The risk was greatest in patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia. Tygacil hasn't been approved for that condition.
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Folic Acid Deficiency Can Affect the Health of Great, Great Grandchildren
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130926123450.htm
September 26th 2013
"Although our research focused on genetic mutations which disrupts the break down and metabolism of folic acid, we believe that folic acid deficiency in the diet would have a similar multi-generational impact on health," said Dr Erica Watson from the Centre for Trophoblast Research at the University of Cambridge, who led the study.
The detrimental effects of folic acid deficiency on development are quite well known. As a result, many countries, to include Canada and the US, have implemented folate fortification programmes which require folic acid to be added to cereal products. However, until now, very little was known about how folic acid deficiency caused the diverse range of health problems in offspring.
"Fortification programmes have reduced the risk of health effects but not eliminated them completely," said Dr Watson. "Based on our research, we now believe that it may take more than one generation to eliminate the health problems caused by folate deficiency."
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Through another experiment which involved transferring the embryo from the third generation into a normal healthy female mouse, they discovered that these developmental abnormalities were not passed down genetically. Instead, the serious defects were the result of epigenetic changes which had been inherited.
Epigenetics is a system which turns genes on and off. It occurs when chemicals, such as methyl groups, bind to the DNA at specific locations to control which genes are expressed and when they are expressed. (Interestingly, the folic acid cycle is required to make sure that the cell has enough methyl groups for normal gene expression.) Epigenetic inheritance refers to the passing of these epigenetic marks from one generation to the next -- despite the epigenome, for the most part, being 'wiped clean' after each generation.
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September 26th 2013
"Although our research focused on genetic mutations which disrupts the break down and metabolism of folic acid, we believe that folic acid deficiency in the diet would have a similar multi-generational impact on health," said Dr Erica Watson from the Centre for Trophoblast Research at the University of Cambridge, who led the study.
The detrimental effects of folic acid deficiency on development are quite well known. As a result, many countries, to include Canada and the US, have implemented folate fortification programmes which require folic acid to be added to cereal products. However, until now, very little was known about how folic acid deficiency caused the diverse range of health problems in offspring.
"Fortification programmes have reduced the risk of health effects but not eliminated them completely," said Dr Watson. "Based on our research, we now believe that it may take more than one generation to eliminate the health problems caused by folate deficiency."
-----
Through another experiment which involved transferring the embryo from the third generation into a normal healthy female mouse, they discovered that these developmental abnormalities were not passed down genetically. Instead, the serious defects were the result of epigenetic changes which had been inherited.
Epigenetics is a system which turns genes on and off. It occurs when chemicals, such as methyl groups, bind to the DNA at specific locations to control which genes are expressed and when they are expressed. (Interestingly, the folic acid cycle is required to make sure that the cell has enough methyl groups for normal gene expression.) Epigenetic inheritance refers to the passing of these epigenetic marks from one generation to the next -- despite the epigenome, for the most part, being 'wiped clean' after each generation.
-----
Capitol Police going unpaid while protecting fully paid Congress
From Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/PragProgPage?ref=stream&hc_location=stream
The Pragmatic Progressive Page
I suppose now is as good a time as any to point out that while the House of Representatives was giving the Capitol Police a well deserved standing ovation for keeping them safe, they were doing so while those officers are going unpaid thanks to the shutdown. While the police are considered "essential" personnel, requiring them to report to work, the rules of the shutdown do not allow for them to be paid. So, while the right side of the aisle was standing and clapping their hands in thankfulness for the cloak of protection those officers provide, they were doing so knowing that THEIR own paychecks continue unabated and the Capitol Police are working for free. Not only that, when they do eventually come around to ratifying the budget they have already agreed upon (minus the Obamacare bullshit), they will do so at sequester levels. Meaning some of those officers will be furloughed when the shutdown is over.
https://www.facebook.com/PragProgPage?ref=stream&hc_location=stream
The Pragmatic Progressive Page
I suppose now is as good a time as any to point out that while the House of Representatives was giving the Capitol Police a well deserved standing ovation for keeping them safe, they were doing so while those officers are going unpaid thanks to the shutdown. While the police are considered "essential" personnel, requiring them to report to work, the rules of the shutdown do not allow for them to be paid. So, while the right side of the aisle was standing and clapping their hands in thankfulness for the cloak of protection those officers provide, they were doing so knowing that THEIR own paychecks continue unabated and the Capitol Police are working for free. Not only that, when they do eventually come around to ratifying the budget they have already agreed upon (minus the Obamacare bullshit), they will do so at sequester levels. Meaning some of those officers will be furloughed when the shutdown is over.
Tuesday, October 01, 2013
Abuse, Lack of Parental Warmth in Childhood Linked to Multiple Health Risks in Adulthood
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130926205005.htm
Sep. 26, 2013 — The effects of childhood abuse and lack of parental affection can last a lifetime, taking a toll both emotionally and physically.
There are many reports assessing the psychological damage resulting from childhood abuse, and the effects on physical health have also been well documented. For instance, this "toxic" stress has been linked to elevated cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome and other physical conditions posing a significant health risk. The research into the physical effects of abuse, however, has focused on separate, individual systems.
A new UCLA-led study for the first time examines the effects of abuse and lack of parental affection across the body's entire regulatory system, and finds a strong biological link for how negative early life experiences affect physical health. The study is published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"Our findings suggest that there may be a way to reduce the impact abuse has, at least in terms of physical health," said Judith E. Carroll, a research scientist at the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology at UCLA, and the study's lead author. "If the child has love from parental figures they may be more protected from the impact of abuse on adult biological risk for health problems than those who don't have that loving adult in their life."
-----
The researchers suggest that toxic childhood stress alters neural responses to stress, boosting the emotional and physical arousal to threat and making it more difficult for that reaction to be shut off.
-----
But the findings suggest that parental warmth and affection protect one against the harmful effects of toxic childhood stress. Also, the lingering effects of childhood abuse can be linked to age-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease. Among other things, this could have an effect on long-term health care costs.
"It is our hope that this will encourage public policy support for early interventions," Carroll said. "If we intervene early in risky families and at places that provide care for children by educating and training parents, teachers, and other caregivers in how to provide a loving and nurturing environment, we may also improve the long term health trajectories of those kids."
tag: child abuse
Sep. 26, 2013 — The effects of childhood abuse and lack of parental affection can last a lifetime, taking a toll both emotionally and physically.
There are many reports assessing the psychological damage resulting from childhood abuse, and the effects on physical health have also been well documented. For instance, this "toxic" stress has been linked to elevated cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome and other physical conditions posing a significant health risk. The research into the physical effects of abuse, however, has focused on separate, individual systems.
A new UCLA-led study for the first time examines the effects of abuse and lack of parental affection across the body's entire regulatory system, and finds a strong biological link for how negative early life experiences affect physical health. The study is published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"Our findings suggest that there may be a way to reduce the impact abuse has, at least in terms of physical health," said Judith E. Carroll, a research scientist at the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology at UCLA, and the study's lead author. "If the child has love from parental figures they may be more protected from the impact of abuse on adult biological risk for health problems than those who don't have that loving adult in their life."
-----
The researchers suggest that toxic childhood stress alters neural responses to stress, boosting the emotional and physical arousal to threat and making it more difficult for that reaction to be shut off.
-----
But the findings suggest that parental warmth and affection protect one against the harmful effects of toxic childhood stress. Also, the lingering effects of childhood abuse can be linked to age-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease. Among other things, this could have an effect on long-term health care costs.
"It is our hope that this will encourage public policy support for early interventions," Carroll said. "If we intervene early in risky families and at places that provide care for children by educating and training parents, teachers, and other caregivers in how to provide a loving and nurturing environment, we may also improve the long term health trajectories of those kids."
tag: child abuse
Smoking during pregnancy may increase risk of bipolar disorder in offspring
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/cums-sdp100113.php
Public release date: 1-Oct-2013
Contact: Stephanie Berger
Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health
A study published today in the American Journal of Psychiatry suggests an association between smoking during pregnancy and increased risk for developing bipolar disorder (BD) in adult children.
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The study was based on 79 cases and 654 comparison subjects. Maternal smoking during pregnancy was associated with a twofold increased risk of BD in their offspring.
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Public release date: 1-Oct-2013
Contact: Stephanie Berger
Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health
A study published today in the American Journal of Psychiatry suggests an association between smoking during pregnancy and increased risk for developing bipolar disorder (BD) in adult children.
-----
The study was based on 79 cases and 654 comparison subjects. Maternal smoking during pregnancy was associated with a twofold increased risk of BD in their offspring.
-----
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