today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45327870/ns/today-today_health/#.TsWcknKOu8s
By JoNel Aleccia
updated 11/17/2011 8:23:39 AM ET
Thanks to the medical detectives at the nation’s first mystery disease clinic, Louise Benge now knows why her legs feel like they’ve turned to stone.
The 57-year-old Kentucky woman finally has an explanation for the strange disorder that began crippling her — and her four siblings — nearly three decades ago, making it hard to walk, first a few blocks, then any distance at all.
“Oh, goodness, it’s very hurtful,” said Benge, a retired food stamp clerk from Brodhead, Ky. “Our calves and legs just get as hard as rocks. Sometimes, I just have to stop, period.”
There’s still no treatment or cure for the problem, which also causes severe pain in her hands, Benge acknowledges. But at least there’s a name for the first completely new ailment discovered through the fledgling Undiagnosed Diseases Program begun in 2008 by the National Institutes of Health.
[...]
The condition is one of two previously unknown diseases identified through the UDP effort in its first two years. During that time, UPD sleuths also reached diagnoses on at least 39 other patients whose conditions had previously baffled doctors, according to a pilot project review published this fall. That included rare or ultra-rare diseases detected in 28 patients and nine common disorders.
[...]
There’s certainly no shortage of people with diseases that elude diagnosis, Gahl said. In June, the program temporarily stopped accepting applications to allow him and his swamped colleagues to catch their breath.
“We’ve seen so many incredible cases that we really don’t have time to follow up on all of our clues for them,” he said.
Still, starting Dec. 1, Gahl plans to open the floodgates again, mostly because he knows that so many patients like Louise Benge are anxious for answers.
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Thursday, November 17, 2011
Reporters For Right-Wing Publication Daily Caller Beaten By NYPD, Helped By Protesters
http://thinkprogress.org/special/2011/11/17/371349/reporters-for-right-wing-publication-daily-caller-beaten-by-nypd-helped-by-protesters/
By Zaid Jilani on Nov 17, 2011 at 1:20 pm
The right-wing Daily Caller website has been anything but kind to Occupy Wall Street, even going so far as to condemn the protest movement as generating riots, murder, and arson.
But when a couple of Daily Caller employees were at Occupy Wall Street this morning, it was the very protesters they had been demonizing who ended up helping them out. Daily Caller reporter Michelle Fields — who faced off with actor Matt Damon earlier this year over education policy — and videographer Direna Cousins both claim they were attacked by the New York Police Department (NYPD) while covering the raucous protests in the Financial District today. Fields added that Occupy Wall Street protesters immediately came up to her to offer their help:
“Direna had a camera in her hand and I had a microphone, and we were being hit,” she said. “When I fell to the ground I said at one point, ‘I’m just covering this! I’m covering this!’ And the officer just said, ‘Come on, get up, get up,’ before pulling me up by my jacket.’” “The protesters came up to me right away and asked if I needed any medical assistance. They were actually very kind and helpful. It was the police officers who were very aggressive,” Fields added.
Fields says that protesters right now are effectively “barricaded” in Zuccotti Park, which was the spot from which they were ousted from on Tuesday.
[...]
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By Zaid Jilani on Nov 17, 2011 at 1:20 pm
The right-wing Daily Caller website has been anything but kind to Occupy Wall Street, even going so far as to condemn the protest movement as generating riots, murder, and arson.
But when a couple of Daily Caller employees were at Occupy Wall Street this morning, it was the very protesters they had been demonizing who ended up helping them out. Daily Caller reporter Michelle Fields — who faced off with actor Matt Damon earlier this year over education policy — and videographer Direna Cousins both claim they were attacked by the New York Police Department (NYPD) while covering the raucous protests in the Financial District today. Fields added that Occupy Wall Street protesters immediately came up to her to offer their help:
“Direna had a camera in her hand and I had a microphone, and we were being hit,” she said. “When I fell to the ground I said at one point, ‘I’m just covering this! I’m covering this!’ And the officer just said, ‘Come on, get up, get up,’ before pulling me up by my jacket.’” “The protesters came up to me right away and asked if I needed any medical assistance. They were actually very kind and helpful. It was the police officers who were very aggressive,” Fields added.
Fields says that protesters right now are effectively “barricaded” in Zuccotti Park, which was the spot from which they were ousted from on Tuesday.
[...]
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Konstantinos Alexopoulos Suing BofA For Giving Away His Account To Man With Same Name
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/17/konstantinos-alexopoulos-bank-of-america_n_1099235.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false#sb=418601,b=facebook
First Posted: 11/17/11 11:16 AM ET Updated: 11/17/11 02:31 PM ET
One man is suing Bank of America after the company allegedly handed over his account to another customer with the same name.
Konstantinos Alexopoulos opened up an account at Barnett Bank -- which was ultimately acquired by BofA -- in 1992 when he came to the United States for college, the Tampa Tribune reports. He returned to Greece in 1997 and continued making deposits to the account totaling $59,000 in 2003, but when he checked his balance in 2005, it had dwindled to $1,400.
Alexopoulos alleges that's because the bank mixed up his account with that of another man of the same name, who subsequently withdrew the money, according to the Tribune.
If Alexopoulos' claims hold up in court, it would be far from the first BofA mix-up. The bank also gave the same 10-digit account number to two customers in Riverside, California, according to a July report by the Los Angeles Times. One of the customers -- an 88-year old World War II veteran -- ended up losing out on $30,000 worth of social security payments as a result. After an investigation by the San Bernardino County district attorney's office, he ultimately got the money back.
In September it was reported that a Hawaiian woman sued BofA after she received computer-generated calls as often as every 15 minutes from the bank over a missed mortgage payment, while she was grieving for her recently deceased husband.
[...]
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First Posted: 11/17/11 11:16 AM ET Updated: 11/17/11 02:31 PM ET
One man is suing Bank of America after the company allegedly handed over his account to another customer with the same name.
Konstantinos Alexopoulos opened up an account at Barnett Bank -- which was ultimately acquired by BofA -- in 1992 when he came to the United States for college, the Tampa Tribune reports. He returned to Greece in 1997 and continued making deposits to the account totaling $59,000 in 2003, but when he checked his balance in 2005, it had dwindled to $1,400.
Alexopoulos alleges that's because the bank mixed up his account with that of another man of the same name, who subsequently withdrew the money, according to the Tribune.
If Alexopoulos' claims hold up in court, it would be far from the first BofA mix-up. The bank also gave the same 10-digit account number to two customers in Riverside, California, according to a July report by the Los Angeles Times. One of the customers -- an 88-year old World War II veteran -- ended up losing out on $30,000 worth of social security payments as a result. After an investigation by the San Bernardino County district attorney's office, he ultimately got the money back.
In September it was reported that a Hawaiian woman sued BofA after she received computer-generated calls as often as every 15 minutes from the bank over a missed mortgage payment, while she was grieving for her recently deceased husband.
[...]
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Making a difference
"So often we think we have got to make a difference and be a big dog. Let us just try to be little fleas biting. Enough fleas biting strategically can make a big dog very uncomfortable." -Marian Wright Edelman
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Wednesday, November 16, 2011
One Day After Attending Private Economic Crisis Briefing, GOP Financial Services Chairman Bet On Stocks Tanking
The CBS video is available at the following link:
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/11/14/367446/one-day-after-attending-private-economic-crisis-briefing-gop-financial-services-chairman-bet-on-stocks-tanking/
By Pat Garofalo on Nov 14, 2011 at 10:30 am
CBS News’ 60 Minutes aired a report last night alleging that several members of Congress have traded stock using information they received during private briefings or meetings, enabling them to profit from inside information. By far the most damning story was about House Financial Services Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-AL), who in 2008, the day after receiving a private briefing from the nation’s chief economic officials on the extent of the financial crisis, proceeded to bet that the stock market would tank:
In mid September 2008 with the Dow Jones Industrial average still above ten thousand, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke were holding closed door briefings with congressional leaders, and privately warning them that a global financial meltdown could occur within a few days. One of those attending was Alabama Representative Spencer Bachus, then the ranking Republican member on the House Financial Services Committee and now its chairman. [...]
While Congressman Bachus was publicly trying to keep the economy from cratering, he was privately betting that it would, buying option funds that would go up in value if the market went down. He would make a variety of trades and profited at a time when most Americans were losing their shirts.
Bachus, who was the ranking member of the Financial Services committee at the time (since the Democrats held the house) made about 200 trades as the financial crisis peaked, netting about $28,000. “What we know is that those meetings were held one day and literally the next day Congressman Bachus would engage in buying stock options based on apocalyptic briefings he had the day before from the Fed chairman and Treasury Secretary,” said Peter Schweitzer, a fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution, whose work was the basis for CBS’ report. “I mean, talk about a stock tip.”
CBS also criticized House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) for trading health stocks right before the public option was officially killed and noted that former Rep. Dennis Hastert (R) and former Sen. Judd Gregg (R) profited from steering federal earmarks towards projects in which they had a financial stake.
[...]
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http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/11/14/367446/one-day-after-attending-private-economic-crisis-briefing-gop-financial-services-chairman-bet-on-stocks-tanking/
By Pat Garofalo on Nov 14, 2011 at 10:30 am
CBS News’ 60 Minutes aired a report last night alleging that several members of Congress have traded stock using information they received during private briefings or meetings, enabling them to profit from inside information. By far the most damning story was about House Financial Services Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-AL), who in 2008, the day after receiving a private briefing from the nation’s chief economic officials on the extent of the financial crisis, proceeded to bet that the stock market would tank:
In mid September 2008 with the Dow Jones Industrial average still above ten thousand, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke were holding closed door briefings with congressional leaders, and privately warning them that a global financial meltdown could occur within a few days. One of those attending was Alabama Representative Spencer Bachus, then the ranking Republican member on the House Financial Services Committee and now its chairman. [...]
While Congressman Bachus was publicly trying to keep the economy from cratering, he was privately betting that it would, buying option funds that would go up in value if the market went down. He would make a variety of trades and profited at a time when most Americans were losing their shirts.
Bachus, who was the ranking member of the Financial Services committee at the time (since the Democrats held the house) made about 200 trades as the financial crisis peaked, netting about $28,000. “What we know is that those meetings were held one day and literally the next day Congressman Bachus would engage in buying stock options based on apocalyptic briefings he had the day before from the Fed chairman and Treasury Secretary,” said Peter Schweitzer, a fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution, whose work was the basis for CBS’ report. “I mean, talk about a stock tip.”
CBS also criticized House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) for trading health stocks right before the public option was officially killed and noted that former Rep. Dennis Hastert (R) and former Sen. Judd Gregg (R) profited from steering federal earmarks towards projects in which they had a financial stake.
[...]
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Bank Of America Makes Millions Charging Fees To Withdraw Unemployment Benefits
Bank Of America Makes Millions Charging Fees To Withdraw Unemployment Benefits
By Marie Diamond on Nov 14, 2011 at 11:40 am
Late last month, a national backlash forced Bank of America to abandon its plan to charge customers $5 a month to use their debit cards. But Huffington Post reports that the corporation has quietly been mining other sources of fees, preying on its most vulnerable customers to rake in millions in revenue:
Shawana Busby does not seem like the sort of customer who would be at the center of a major bank’s business plan. Out of work for much of the last three years, she depends upon a $264-a-week unemployment check from the state of South Carolina. But the state has contracted with Bank of America to administer its unemployment benefits, and Busby has frequently found herself incurring bank fees to get her money.
To withdraw her benefits, Busby, 33, uses a Bank of America prepaid debit card on which the state deposits her funds…Busby visits the ATMs in her area and begrudgingly accepts the fees, which reach as high as five dollars per transaction. She estimates that she has paid at least $350 in fees to tap her unemployment benefits. [...]
In short, the same banks whose speculation delivered a financial crisis that has destroyed millions of jobs have figured out how to turn widespread unemployment into a profit center: The larger the number of people who are out of work and dependent upon the state for sustenance, the greater the potential gains through administering their benefits.
Millions of jobless Americans like Busby have little choice but to rely on the bank’s prepaid debit cards to collect their monthly benefits. Forty-one states have contracted with Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, and other banks to provide access to public benefits, allowing them to collect unlimited fees, both from the unemployed and state governments. South Carolina, for instance, pays Bank of America a fee for each transfer it facilitates on a debit card, and for handling direct deposit of unemployment benefits.
[...]
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By Marie Diamond on Nov 14, 2011 at 11:40 am
Late last month, a national backlash forced Bank of America to abandon its plan to charge customers $5 a month to use their debit cards. But Huffington Post reports that the corporation has quietly been mining other sources of fees, preying on its most vulnerable customers to rake in millions in revenue:
Shawana Busby does not seem like the sort of customer who would be at the center of a major bank’s business plan. Out of work for much of the last three years, she depends upon a $264-a-week unemployment check from the state of South Carolina. But the state has contracted with Bank of America to administer its unemployment benefits, and Busby has frequently found herself incurring bank fees to get her money.
To withdraw her benefits, Busby, 33, uses a Bank of America prepaid debit card on which the state deposits her funds…Busby visits the ATMs in her area and begrudgingly accepts the fees, which reach as high as five dollars per transaction. She estimates that she has paid at least $350 in fees to tap her unemployment benefits. [...]
In short, the same banks whose speculation delivered a financial crisis that has destroyed millions of jobs have figured out how to turn widespread unemployment into a profit center: The larger the number of people who are out of work and dependent upon the state for sustenance, the greater the potential gains through administering their benefits.
Millions of jobless Americans like Busby have little choice but to rely on the bank’s prepaid debit cards to collect their monthly benefits. Forty-one states have contracted with Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, and other banks to provide access to public benefits, allowing them to collect unlimited fees, both from the unemployed and state governments. South Carolina, for instance, pays Bank of America a fee for each transfer it facilitates on a debit card, and for handling direct deposit of unemployment benefits.
[...]
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At Least Two Reporters Arrested While Covering Crackdown On Occupy Wall Street
What country are we living in?
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/11/15/368980/at-least-two-reporters-arrested-while-covering-crackdown-on-occupy-wall-street/
Shortly before noon today, New York Daily News reporter Matthew Lysiak, who is covering New York City’s crackdown on Occupy Wall Street protestors filed a three word report: “I’ve been arrested.” Julie Walker, a freelance reporter for NPR, was also arrested last night while covering the crackdown, despite the fact that she was wearing an NYPD-issued press pass. Walker spent three to four hours in police custody before she was released at 7 a.m. To her credit, she immediately “went straight back to work.”
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Oakland’s Deputy Mayor Quits Following Legal Advisor’s Resignation In Support Of Occupy Oakland
http://thinkprogress.org/special/2011/11/15/369143/oakland-mayor-jean-quans-deputy-mayor-quits-following-legal-advisors-resignation-in-support-of-occupy-oakland/
The city of Oakland’s ongoing horrific treatment of the Occupy Oakland movement cost the city’s Mayor Jean Quan her legal adviser Dan Siegel, who resigned yesterday in protest of “the 1% and its government facilitators.” The Mercury News is now reporting that Quan’s Deputy Mayor Sharon Cornu quickly followed in his footsteps. After holding the post for little less than a year, Cornu resigned yesterday stating, “I felt I wasn’t being effective” and that her work “didn’t seem to be meshing well with the style of Quan’s existing team.” Cornu marks the fourth resignation from Quan’s administration in one month. The police chief and a communications adviser quit within the last four weeks. City hall sources told Mercury News that City Administrator Deanna Santana also wanted to resign “over how Quan handled the Oct. 25 police raid on the camp, but was talked out of it by another City Hall leader.”
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The city of Oakland’s ongoing horrific treatment of the Occupy Oakland movement cost the city’s Mayor Jean Quan her legal adviser Dan Siegel, who resigned yesterday in protest of “the 1% and its government facilitators.” The Mercury News is now reporting that Quan’s Deputy Mayor Sharon Cornu quickly followed in his footsteps. After holding the post for little less than a year, Cornu resigned yesterday stating, “I felt I wasn’t being effective” and that her work “didn’t seem to be meshing well with the style of Quan’s existing team.” Cornu marks the fourth resignation from Quan’s administration in one month. The police chief and a communications adviser quit within the last four weeks. City hall sources told Mercury News that City Administrator Deanna Santana also wanted to resign “over how Quan handled the Oct. 25 police raid on the camp, but was talked out of it by another City Hall leader.”
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Mississippi Woman Receives Three Year Prison Sentence For Feeding Her Family
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/11/15/369180/mississippi-woman-receives-three-year-prison-sentence-for-feeding-her-family/
By Ian Millhiser on Nov 15, 2011 at 3:00 pm
Last week, a federal court in Mississippi sentenced a key figure in a $3 million mortgage fraud scheme to two and a half years in federal prison. Just a few days earlier, however, a Mississippi federal judge imposed a significantly harsher sentence on a woman who lied on her benefits applications in order to receive just $4,367 in food stamps to help feed her family:
[I]n moments of desperation, a lie can seem like the only option. Anita McLemore, a Mississippi mother of two, faced one of those unfortunate moments when filling out her application for food stamps — and now she’ll pay the price, by spending three years of her life behind bars in federal prison.
Thanks to a federal ban on food stamps for people with felony drug convictions, people like McLemore are out of luck when it comes to getting assistance with putting food on their tables. Though states can opt out of the ban, those that don’t (like Mississippi) deny food stamps even to individuals who have already served their sentences or overcome previous addictions. It’s true that McLemore’s past isn’t perfect — she has four felony drug convictions and one misdemeanor, which place her firmly in the category of people the federal government has declared unfit to receive public benefits. Hence, faced with the prospect of being unable to feed her family, McLemore lied on her application.
In a compassionate nation, the penalty for drug use is not starvation. In a just nation, the penalty for drug use is not that your two children must be hungry as well. There is no excuse for a federal drug policy that punishes anyone by taking away their ability to put food on the table — and that punishes them so severely for the crime of needing to eat.
And, unlike thousands of Wall Street bankers who helped plunge America’s economy into a catastrophic recession, McLemore actually paid back the $4,367 she received.
[...]
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By Ian Millhiser on Nov 15, 2011 at 3:00 pm
Last week, a federal court in Mississippi sentenced a key figure in a $3 million mortgage fraud scheme to two and a half years in federal prison. Just a few days earlier, however, a Mississippi federal judge imposed a significantly harsher sentence on a woman who lied on her benefits applications in order to receive just $4,367 in food stamps to help feed her family:
[I]n moments of desperation, a lie can seem like the only option. Anita McLemore, a Mississippi mother of two, faced one of those unfortunate moments when filling out her application for food stamps — and now she’ll pay the price, by spending three years of her life behind bars in federal prison.
Thanks to a federal ban on food stamps for people with felony drug convictions, people like McLemore are out of luck when it comes to getting assistance with putting food on their tables. Though states can opt out of the ban, those that don’t (like Mississippi) deny food stamps even to individuals who have already served their sentences or overcome previous addictions. It’s true that McLemore’s past isn’t perfect — she has four felony drug convictions and one misdemeanor, which place her firmly in the category of people the federal government has declared unfit to receive public benefits. Hence, faced with the prospect of being unable to feed her family, McLemore lied on her application.
In a compassionate nation, the penalty for drug use is not starvation. In a just nation, the penalty for drug use is not that your two children must be hungry as well. There is no excuse for a federal drug policy that punishes anyone by taking away their ability to put food on the table — and that punishes them so severely for the crime of needing to eat.
And, unlike thousands of Wall Street bankers who helped plunge America’s economy into a catastrophic recession, McLemore actually paid back the $4,367 she received.
[...]
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Thailand's flood gradually subsiding; climate change increasing Thai flood risk
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1987
Posted by: JeffMasters, 2:56 PM GMT on November 14, 2011
Unprecedented flood waters continue to besiege Thailand and its capital city of Bangkok this November. Heavy monsoon and tropical cyclone rains from July through October, enhanced by La Niña conditions, have led to extreme flooding that has killed 506 people and caused that nation's most expensive natural disaster in history, with a cost now estimated at $9.8 billion by re-insurance company AON Benfield. Thailand's previous most expensive natural disaster was the $1.3 billion price tag of the November 27, 1993 flood, according to the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED). The floodwaters this year have hit 83% of Thailand's provinces, affected 9.8 million people, and damaged approximately 25% of the nation's rice crop. Thailand is the world's largest exporter of rice, accounting for 30% of the global total, and the flood has helped trigger an increase in world rice prices in recent months. Fortunately, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N. reports that overall global food prices have been steadily falling since June, thanks in part to increases in wheat and corn production elsewhere in the world. Food prices had reached their highest levels since the late 1970s early in 2011.
[...]
Forecast for the remainder of the 21st century: more mega-floods for Bangkok
Bangkok lies in the Chao Phraya River basin, which covers about 35% of the country, and has an average elevation just 1 - 2 meters above sea level. Obviously, sea level rise, which averaged 7 inches world-wide during the 20th century, and is predicted to be at least that high during the 21st century, is a huge concern for Thailand. Loss of land due to a sea-level rise of .5 m and 1.0 m could decrease national GDP by 0.36% and 0.69% (US$300 to 600 million) per year, respectively (Ohno, 2001). Higher sea levels also block the flow of flood waters out of the Chao Phraya River, backing up these waters into the city, putting stress on levees and raising flood heights. Another major concern of climate change is the increase in rainfall expected in a warmer world. A 2010 study by the World Bank found that a global temperature rise of 1.2 - 1.9°C would likely increase precipitation over Thailand by 2 - 3%. This extra rainfall, when combined with predicted levels of sea level rise and land subsidence due to groundwater pumping, would likely make a 1-in-50 year flood occur once every fifteen years by the end of the century. Since the flood control system in Bangkok is "generally designed to protect against 1-in-30-year floods", the report concluded that "people living in Bangkok will be facing more frequent events that significantly disrupt daily life." This study assumed that sea level rise by 2100 would be what the IPCC predicted in 2007: 0.6 - 1.9 feet. A number of studies published since that report are predicting much higher levels of sea level increase: 3 - 6 feet (1 - 2 meters) by 2100. If these higher sea level rise estimates prove correct, mega-floods like the 2011 flood will occur several times per decade in Bangkok by the end of the century--unless the Thais can engineer a massive sea wall to keep the ocean at bay.
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Posted by: JeffMasters, 2:56 PM GMT on November 14, 2011
Unprecedented flood waters continue to besiege Thailand and its capital city of Bangkok this November. Heavy monsoon and tropical cyclone rains from July through October, enhanced by La Niña conditions, have led to extreme flooding that has killed 506 people and caused that nation's most expensive natural disaster in history, with a cost now estimated at $9.8 billion by re-insurance company AON Benfield. Thailand's previous most expensive natural disaster was the $1.3 billion price tag of the November 27, 1993 flood, according to the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED). The floodwaters this year have hit 83% of Thailand's provinces, affected 9.8 million people, and damaged approximately 25% of the nation's rice crop. Thailand is the world's largest exporter of rice, accounting for 30% of the global total, and the flood has helped trigger an increase in world rice prices in recent months. Fortunately, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N. reports that overall global food prices have been steadily falling since June, thanks in part to increases in wheat and corn production elsewhere in the world. Food prices had reached their highest levels since the late 1970s early in 2011.
[...]
Forecast for the remainder of the 21st century: more mega-floods for Bangkok
Bangkok lies in the Chao Phraya River basin, which covers about 35% of the country, and has an average elevation just 1 - 2 meters above sea level. Obviously, sea level rise, which averaged 7 inches world-wide during the 20th century, and is predicted to be at least that high during the 21st century, is a huge concern for Thailand. Loss of land due to a sea-level rise of .5 m and 1.0 m could decrease national GDP by 0.36% and 0.69% (US$300 to 600 million) per year, respectively (Ohno, 2001). Higher sea levels also block the flow of flood waters out of the Chao Phraya River, backing up these waters into the city, putting stress on levees and raising flood heights. Another major concern of climate change is the increase in rainfall expected in a warmer world. A 2010 study by the World Bank found that a global temperature rise of 1.2 - 1.9°C would likely increase precipitation over Thailand by 2 - 3%. This extra rainfall, when combined with predicted levels of sea level rise and land subsidence due to groundwater pumping, would likely make a 1-in-50 year flood occur once every fifteen years by the end of the century. Since the flood control system in Bangkok is "generally designed to protect against 1-in-30-year floods", the report concluded that "people living in Bangkok will be facing more frequent events that significantly disrupt daily life." This study assumed that sea level rise by 2100 would be what the IPCC predicted in 2007: 0.6 - 1.9 feet. A number of studies published since that report are predicting much higher levels of sea level increase: 3 - 6 feet (1 - 2 meters) by 2100. If these higher sea level rise estimates prove correct, mega-floods like the 2011 flood will occur several times per decade in Bangkok by the end of the century--unless the Thais can engineer a massive sea wall to keep the ocean at bay.
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October 2011 the globe's 8th warmest on record
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1988
Posted by: JeffMasters, 1:38 PM GMT on November 16, 2011
October 2011 was the globe's 8th warmest October on record, according to the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies also rated October the 8th warmest on record. The top ten warmest Octobers since record keeping began in 1871 have all occurred since 1997. October 2011 global land temperatures were the 2nd warmest on record, and ocean temperatures were the 11th warmest on record. Global satellite-measured temperatures for the lowest 8 km of the atmosphere near average, the 19th or 12th warmest in the 34-year record, according to Remote Sensing Systems and the University of Alabama Huntsville (UAH).
[...]
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Posted by: JeffMasters, 1:38 PM GMT on November 16, 2011
October 2011 was the globe's 8th warmest October on record, according to the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies also rated October the 8th warmest on record. The top ten warmest Octobers since record keeping began in 1871 have all occurred since 1997. October 2011 global land temperatures were the 2nd warmest on record, and ocean temperatures were the 11th warmest on record. Global satellite-measured temperatures for the lowest 8 km of the atmosphere near average, the 19th or 12th warmest in the 34-year record, according to Remote Sensing Systems and the University of Alabama Huntsville (UAH).
[...]
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Arctic sea ice extent second lowest on record
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1988
[...]
Arctic sea ice extent was at its second lowest on record in October, behind 2007, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. October 2011 sea ice extent was 23.5% below the 1979 - 2000 average. Sea ice extent retreated to its lowest value on record during the second week of November, thanks in part to a powerful 943 mb blizzard that brought hurricane-force winds to the Chukchi Sea between Siberia and Russia, compacting and breaking up the sea ice there. Sea ice records date back to 1979.
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[...]
Arctic sea ice extent was at its second lowest on record in October, behind 2007, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. October 2011 sea ice extent was 23.5% below the 1979 - 2000 average. Sea ice extent retreated to its lowest value on record during the second week of November, thanks in part to a powerful 943 mb blizzard that brought hurricane-force winds to the Chukchi Sea between Siberia and Russia, compacting and breaking up the sea ice there. Sea ice records date back to 1979.
[...]
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Group Of Millionaires Visits Washington To Tell Congress: ‘Tax Me’
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/11/16/369595/group-of-millionaires-visits-washington-to-tell-congress-tax-me/
By Travis Waldron on Nov 16, 2011 at 9:17 am
Two-dozen millionaires are coming to Capitol Hill today to urge Congress to raise taxes on millionaires as part of any debt deal. The group, Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength, is scheduled to appear before at the Congressional Progressive Caucus’ hearing on job creation this morning. After that, the group will visit the offices of all six supercommittee members, Democratic leaders, members of the Tea Party Caucus, and anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist.
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By Travis Waldron on Nov 16, 2011 at 9:17 am
Two-dozen millionaires are coming to Capitol Hill today to urge Congress to raise taxes on millionaires as part of any debt deal. The group, Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength, is scheduled to appear before at the Congressional Progressive Caucus’ hearing on job creation this morning. After that, the group will visit the offices of all six supercommittee members, Democratic leaders, members of the Tea Party Caucus, and anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist.
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More Than Half Of All Congressional Members Are Millionaires
http://thinkprogress.org/special/2011/11/16/369754/more-than-half-of-all-congressional-members-are-millionaires/
By Tanya Somanader on Nov 16, 2011 at 1:45
If the voices of the 99 Percent Movement are being heard in Washington at all, they’re being heard predominantly by the 1 percent. As the Center for Responsive Politics notes, “About 47 percent of Congress, or 249 current members are millionaires.” Sixty-six percent of the U.S. Senate reported an average net worth in excess of $1 million in 2010. In fact, “despite the global meltdown in 2008 and the sluggish recovery that followed,” the estimated median net worth of a current U.S. senator was $2.56 million, up about 7.6 percent from the median net worth in 2009. All together, 315 out of 535 members of Congress — or 58 percent — are millionaires. Noting that few Americans have access to “the same financial cushions” or the same “market-altering information,” the Center For Responsive Politics pointed out that “the vast majority of members of Congress are quite comfortable, financially, while many of their own constituents suffer from economic hardships.”
..
By Tanya Somanader on Nov 16, 2011 at 1:45
If the voices of the 99 Percent Movement are being heard in Washington at all, they’re being heard predominantly by the 1 percent. As the Center for Responsive Politics notes, “About 47 percent of Congress, or 249 current members are millionaires.” Sixty-six percent of the U.S. Senate reported an average net worth in excess of $1 million in 2010. In fact, “despite the global meltdown in 2008 and the sluggish recovery that followed,” the estimated median net worth of a current U.S. senator was $2.56 million, up about 7.6 percent from the median net worth in 2009. All together, 315 out of 535 members of Congress — or 58 percent — are millionaires. Noting that few Americans have access to “the same financial cushions” or the same “market-altering information,” the Center For Responsive Politics pointed out that “the vast majority of members of Congress are quite comfortable, financially, while many of their own constituents suffer from economic hardships.”
..
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Intensive therapy halves kidney disease in type 1 diabetes
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/niod-ith111011.php
Public release date: 12-Nov-2011
Contact: Mary M. Harris
NIH/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
NIH-funded study shows long-term benefits
Controlling blood glucose early in the course of type 1 diabetes yields huge dividends, preserving kidney function for decades. The new finding from a study funded by the National Institutes of Health was published online in the New England Journal of Medicine Nov. 12 to coincide with presentation at a scientific meeting.
Compared to conventional therapy, near-normal control of blood glucose beginning soon after diagnosis of type 1 diabetes and continuing an average six and a half years reduced by half the long-term risk of developing kidney disease, according to the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) and Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC) Research Group. The risk of kidney failure was also halved, but the difference was not statistically significant, perhaps due to the relatively small total number of patients who reached that stage of the disease.
[...]
..
Public release date: 12-Nov-2011
Contact: Mary M. Harris
NIH/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
NIH-funded study shows long-term benefits
Controlling blood glucose early in the course of type 1 diabetes yields huge dividends, preserving kidney function for decades. The new finding from a study funded by the National Institutes of Health was published online in the New England Journal of Medicine Nov. 12 to coincide with presentation at a scientific meeting.
Compared to conventional therapy, near-normal control of blood glucose beginning soon after diagnosis of type 1 diabetes and continuing an average six and a half years reduced by half the long-term risk of developing kidney disease, according to the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) and Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC) Research Group. The risk of kidney failure was also halved, but the difference was not statistically significant, perhaps due to the relatively small total number of patients who reached that stage of the disease.
[...]
..
Low vitamin C levels may raise heart failure patients' risk
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/aha-lvc110311.php
Public release date: 13-Nov-2011
Contact: AHA News Media Office
American Heart Association
Low levels of vitamin C were associated with higher levels of high sensitivity C-Reactive protein (hsCRP) and shorter intervals without major cardiac issues or death for heart failure patients, in research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2011.
Compared to those with high vitamin C intake from food, heart failure patients in the study who had low vitamin C intake were 2.4 times more likely to have higher levels of hsCRP, a marker for inflammation and a risk factor for heart disease.
The study is the first to demonstrate that low vitamin C intake is associated with worse outcomes for heart failure patients.
Study participants with low vitamin C intake and hsCRP over 3 milligrams per liter (mg/L) were also nearly twice as likely to die from cardiovascular disease within one year of follow-up.
"We found that adequate intake of vitamin C was associated with longer survival in patients with heart failure," said Eun Kyeung Song, Ph.D., R.N., lead author of the study and assistant professor at the Department of Nursing, College of Medicine, in the University of Ulsan in Korea.
[...]
..
Public release date: 13-Nov-2011
Contact: AHA News Media Office
American Heart Association
Low levels of vitamin C were associated with higher levels of high sensitivity C-Reactive protein (hsCRP) and shorter intervals without major cardiac issues or death for heart failure patients, in research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2011.
Compared to those with high vitamin C intake from food, heart failure patients in the study who had low vitamin C intake were 2.4 times more likely to have higher levels of hsCRP, a marker for inflammation and a risk factor for heart disease.
The study is the first to demonstrate that low vitamin C intake is associated with worse outcomes for heart failure patients.
Study participants with low vitamin C intake and hsCRP over 3 milligrams per liter (mg/L) were also nearly twice as likely to die from cardiovascular disease within one year of follow-up.
"We found that adequate intake of vitamin C was associated with longer survival in patients with heart failure," said Eun Kyeung Song, Ph.D., R.N., lead author of the study and assistant professor at the Department of Nursing, College of Medicine, in the University of Ulsan in Korea.
[...]
..
Professional dental cleanings may reduce risk of heart attack, stroke
Why Medicare should include dental care (which is currently does not cover)
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/aha-pdc110311.php
Public release date: 13-Nov-2011
Contact: AHA News Media Office
American Heart Association
Professional tooth scaling was associated with fewer heart attacks and strokes in a study (Abstract 17704) from Taiwan presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2011.
Among more than 100,000 people, those who had their teeth scraped and cleaned (tooth scaling) by a dentist or dental hygienist had a 24 percent lower risk of heart attack and 13 percent lower risk of stroke compared to those who had never had a dental cleaning. The participants were followed for an average of seven years.
Scientists considered tooth scaling frequent if it occurred at least twice or more in two years; occasional tooth scaling was once or less in two years.
[...]
"Protection from heart disease and stroke was more pronounced in participants who got tooth scaling at least once a year," said Emily (Zu-Yin) Chen, M.D., cardiology fellow at the Veterans General Hospital in Taipei, Taiwan.
Professional tooth scaling appears to reduce inflammation-causing bacterial growth that can lead to heart disease or stroke, she said.
[...]
Anders Holmlund, D.D.S., Ph.D. Centre for Research and Development of the County Council of Gävleborg, Sweden, and senior consultant; Specialized Dentistry, studied 7,999 participants with periodontal disease and found people with:
Fewer than 21 teeth had a 69 percent increased risk of heart attack compared to those with the most teeth.
A higher number of deepened periodontal pockets (infection of the gum around the base of the tooth) had a 53 percent increased risk of heart attack compared to those with the fewest pockets.
The least amount of teeth had a 2.5 increased risk of congestive heart failure compared to those with the most teeth.
The highest incidence of gum bleeding had a 2.1 increased risk of stroke compared to those with the lowest incidence.
..
Abused girls may have higher risk of heart disease, stroke as adults
www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/aha-agm110311.php
Public release date: 13-Nov-2011
Contact: AHA News Media Office
Sexually and physically abused girls may have higher risks for heart attacks, heart disease and strokes as adults, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2011.
In the study, compared to women who weren't molested or raped as children or teens, women who reported:
Repeated episodes of forced sex in childhood or adolescence had a 62 percent higher risk of cardiovascular disease as adults.
Severe physical abuse in childhood or adolescence was associated with a 45 percent increased risk of cardiovascular events.
Mild to moderate physical or sexual abuse was not associated with increased risk.
"The single biggest factor explaining the link between severe child abuse and adult cardiovascular disease was the tendency of abused girls to have gained more weight throughout adolescence and into adulthood,' said Janet Rich-Edwards, Sc.D., M.P.H., lead author of the study and associate professor in the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Mass.
[...]
Associations of severe abuse were stronger for stroke than for heart attack. Risk factors such as adult body mass index, smoking, alcohol use, hypertension and diabetes accounted for 41 percent of the association of severe physical abuse and 37 percent of the association of forced sex with cardiovascular disease events. "These traditional cardiovascular risk factors explain about 40 percent of the association we see between abuse and cardiovascular disease – which suggests that other factors may play an important role, such as increased stress reactivity among people with a history of abuse," said Rich-Edwards.
[...]
tags: child abuse
..
Public release date: 13-Nov-2011
Contact: AHA News Media Office
Sexually and physically abused girls may have higher risks for heart attacks, heart disease and strokes as adults, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2011.
In the study, compared to women who weren't molested or raped as children or teens, women who reported:
Repeated episodes of forced sex in childhood or adolescence had a 62 percent higher risk of cardiovascular disease as adults.
Severe physical abuse in childhood or adolescence was associated with a 45 percent increased risk of cardiovascular events.
Mild to moderate physical or sexual abuse was not associated with increased risk.
"The single biggest factor explaining the link between severe child abuse and adult cardiovascular disease was the tendency of abused girls to have gained more weight throughout adolescence and into adulthood,' said Janet Rich-Edwards, Sc.D., M.P.H., lead author of the study and associate professor in the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Mass.
[...]
Associations of severe abuse were stronger for stroke than for heart attack. Risk factors such as adult body mass index, smoking, alcohol use, hypertension and diabetes accounted for 41 percent of the association of severe physical abuse and 37 percent of the association of forced sex with cardiovascular disease events. "These traditional cardiovascular risk factors explain about 40 percent of the association we see between abuse and cardiovascular disease – which suggests that other factors may play an important role, such as increased stress reactivity among people with a history of abuse," said Rich-Edwards.
[...]
tags: child abuse
..
Clean Energy Has Highest Documented Rate of Return of Any Federal Program
I don't see the Republicans saying the space program was a failure because there were several spectacular failures.
http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/11/13/367252/clean-energy-return-federal-program/
By Joe Romm on Nov 13, 2011 at 12:32 pm
The National Academy of Sciences concluded in 2001 that a handful of clean energy technologies returned about $30 billion on an R&D investment of about $400 million. The United States is an amazing venture capitalist when it comes to clean energy R&D.
But the all-Solyndra, all-the-time stenographers of the status quo at the Washington Post put out this context-free nonsense:
[article has picture of newspaper headline]
If you read the Post article (wearing multiple head vises), you’ll see that Mufson and the Post don’t understand the first thing about venture capital nor have they done even the minimal amount of homework on the myriad major independent studies of the value of clean energy research.
You’d never even know from the article that most private sector VC investments go bankrupt or have no positive return. It is a risky business that investors put money into for the few really big wins. You’d never know that VC investments are judged by their portfolio return — and by that criteria you would have to say that federal clean energy investments are wildly successful.
[...]
Yes, the Post uses the $172 billion figure to create outrage over how much the federal government has spent on energy research, but the overwhelming majority of it didn’t go to energy efficiency and renewables. The Post makes the briefest passing mention to a key point:
Many policy experts say some of government’s biggest energy investment payoffs have come in the small stuff, such as testing the use of magnesium alloys to make lightweight car batteries more efficient or developing ballasts that make compact fluorescent bulbs more efficient.
[...]
Of course, you can’t know a priori which investments will pay off and which won’t, so you need to invest in many technologies, just to have a few winners.
[...]
[...]
..
Rising air pollution worsens drought, flooding, UMD-led study shows
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/uom-rap110911.php
Public release date: 13-Nov-2011
Contact: Lee Tune
University of Maryland
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Increases in air pollution and other particulate matter in the atmosphere can strongly affect cloud development in ways that reduce precipitation in dry regions or seasons, while increasing rain, snowfall and the intensity of severe storms in wet regions or seasons, says a new study by a University of Maryland-led team of researchers.
The research provides the first clear evidence of how aerosols -- soot, dust and other small particles in the atmosphere -- can affect weather and climate; and the findings have important economic and water resource implications for regions across the United States and around the world, say the researchers and other scientists.
[...]
Aerosols are tiny solid particles or liquid particles suspended in air. They include soot, dust and sulfate particles, and are what we commonly think of when we talk about air pollution. Aerosols come, for example, from the combustion of fossil fuels, industrial and agricultural processes, and the accidental or deliberate burning of fields and forests. They can be hazardous to both human health and the environment.
Aerosol particles also affect the Earth's surface temperature by either reflecting light back into space, thus reducing solar radiation at Earth's surface, or absorbing solar radiation, thus heating the atmosphere. This variable cooling and heating is, in part, how aerosols modify atmospheric stability that dictates atmospheric vertical motion and cloud formation. Aerosols also affect cloud microphysics because the serve as nuclei around which water droplets or ice particles form. Both processes can affect cloud properties and rainfall. Different processes may work in harmony or offset each other, leading to a complex yet inconclusive interpretation of their long-term net effect.
Greenhouse gases and aerosol particles are two major agents dictating climate change. The mechanisms of climate warming impacts of increased greenhouse gases are clear (they prevent solar energy that has been absorbed by the earth's surface from being radiated as heat back into space), but the climate effects of increased aerosols are much less certain. Until now, studies of the long-term effects of aerosols on climate change have been largely lacking and inconclusive because their mechanisms are much more sophisticated, variable, and tangled with meteorology.
"This study demonstrates the importance and value of keeping a long record of continuous and comprehensive measurements such as the highly instrumented (ARM) sites run by the Department of Energy's Office of Science, including the Southern Great Plains site, to identify and quantify important roles of aerosols in climate processes," says Stephen E. Schwartz, a scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory. "While the mechanisms for some of these effects remain uncertain, the well-defined relationships discovered here clearly demonstrate the significance of the effects. Developing this understanding to represent the controlling processes in models remains a future challenge, but this study clearly points in important directions."
..
Public release date: 13-Nov-2011
Contact: Lee Tune
University of Maryland
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Increases in air pollution and other particulate matter in the atmosphere can strongly affect cloud development in ways that reduce precipitation in dry regions or seasons, while increasing rain, snowfall and the intensity of severe storms in wet regions or seasons, says a new study by a University of Maryland-led team of researchers.
The research provides the first clear evidence of how aerosols -- soot, dust and other small particles in the atmosphere -- can affect weather and climate; and the findings have important economic and water resource implications for regions across the United States and around the world, say the researchers and other scientists.
[...]
Aerosols are tiny solid particles or liquid particles suspended in air. They include soot, dust and sulfate particles, and are what we commonly think of when we talk about air pollution. Aerosols come, for example, from the combustion of fossil fuels, industrial and agricultural processes, and the accidental or deliberate burning of fields and forests. They can be hazardous to both human health and the environment.
Aerosol particles also affect the Earth's surface temperature by either reflecting light back into space, thus reducing solar radiation at Earth's surface, or absorbing solar radiation, thus heating the atmosphere. This variable cooling and heating is, in part, how aerosols modify atmospheric stability that dictates atmospheric vertical motion and cloud formation. Aerosols also affect cloud microphysics because the serve as nuclei around which water droplets or ice particles form. Both processes can affect cloud properties and rainfall. Different processes may work in harmony or offset each other, leading to a complex yet inconclusive interpretation of their long-term net effect.
Greenhouse gases and aerosol particles are two major agents dictating climate change. The mechanisms of climate warming impacts of increased greenhouse gases are clear (they prevent solar energy that has been absorbed by the earth's surface from being radiated as heat back into space), but the climate effects of increased aerosols are much less certain. Until now, studies of the long-term effects of aerosols on climate change have been largely lacking and inconclusive because their mechanisms are much more sophisticated, variable, and tangled with meteorology.
"This study demonstrates the importance and value of keeping a long record of continuous and comprehensive measurements such as the highly instrumented (ARM) sites run by the Department of Energy's Office of Science, including the Southern Great Plains site, to identify and quantify important roles of aerosols in climate processes," says Stephen E. Schwartz, a scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory. "While the mechanisms for some of these effects remain uncertain, the well-defined relationships discovered here clearly demonstrate the significance of the effects. Developing this understanding to represent the controlling processes in models remains a future challenge, but this study clearly points in important directions."
..
Bystander Psychology: Why Some Witnesses to Crime Do Nothing
http://healthland.time.com/2011/11/11/bystander-psychology-why-some-witnesses-to-crime-do-nothing/?hpt=hp_t2
By Maia Szalavitz Friday, November 11, 2011
The grand jury investigation that resulted in 40 counts of child abuse against Penn State's former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, has raised profoundly unsettling psychological and moral questions about the actions — or lack thereof — of others involved in the case.
Head football coach Joe Paterno was fired by the university on Wednesday for his failure to intervene upon learning about the alleged long-running abuse. But many more questions center on Mike McQueary, who is still employed by Penn State; he witnessed child rape firsthand in 2002, when he was a graduate assistant coach, but did not alert the police.
How is it that a powerfully built ex-quarterback could watch the rape of a 10-year-old boy and do nothing to stop it? Why did he neglect to report what he saw to legal authorities for nearly a decade, even knowing that the perpetrator spent much of his time with at-risk youth? And why did the team and the university fail to act at every possible step?
McQueary, who is now a wide receivers coach at Penn State, did tell his superior, Paterno, about the attack he witnessed eight years ago, but he did not call the police or get help for the boy at the time. (Now reportedly the focus of death threats, McQueary won't be coaching Saturday's game against Nebraska.) McQueary isn't the only alleged witness to do nothing: a Penn State janitor witnessed a separate assault on a child two years earlier, and similarly failed to contact police.
The rest of us would like to believe that no matter how small or scared we were, if we saw a child being raped, we'd step in and stop it, or at the very least call 911 immediately. But social psychology research on "bystander" behavior suggests that many of us might actually turn away.
The most famous instance of witness apathy involves the 1964 murder of 28-year-old Kitty Genovese in New York City. News accounts — and later, social psychology texts — said the victim and her screams were ignored by 38 witnesses as she was stabbed to death on a Queens street. (Genovese's killer was denied parole this week.)
But while research has shown that many such witnesses do fail to intervene, in part because they assume others around them will do so, it turns out that the popular account of the Genovese case is largely urban legend. There were not in fact 38 witnesses, but many fewer, and most onlookers said they did not see or hear the full assault; many of the witnesses did call police.
[...]
Levine, who first brought to the public's attention the problems with the Genovese case accounts, says that group dynamics do influence our actions, but not exactly the way we think. His own research has shown that being with others doesn't always — or even typically — reduce altruistic behavior. However, the type of group we're in and the relationships we have with its members, and with outsiders, do tend to influence how likely or unlikely we may be to help.
When the actions of a group are public and visible, insiders who behave in an unacceptable way — doing things that "contravene the norms of the group," Levine says — may actually be punished by the group more harshly than an outsider would be for the same behavior. "It's seen as a threat to the reputation of the group," says Levine.
In contrast, when the workings of a group are secretive and hidden — like those of a major college football team, for instance, or a political party or the Catholic priesthood — the tendency is toward protecting the group's reputation by covering up. Levine suggests that greater transparency in organizations promotes better behavior in these situations.
"It's the norms and the values of the group that are important," Levine says, noting that this fact doesn't reflect very well on Penn State. Indeed, the riot that broke out after the firing of revered coach Paterno — who appears to have covered up for his former colleague, Sandusky, or at least looked the other way, rather than reporting him to the police — suggests that group solidarity with the football team still takes priority over support for abused children at the school.
Another factor that may have prevented action by McQueary and others is denial. Social psychologist Stanley Cohen identified several forms of denial that may cause people to ignore atrocities. There's the denial that commonly occurs in response to difficult situations like receiving a cancer diagnosis or becoming addicted to drugs: the simple repressing of information and refusal to admit that the problem exists or has occurred.
In McQueary's case, however, there seems to have been another type of denial at play, which Cohen labeled "interpretative." "You don't deny that something happened, but try to transform the meaning of it," says Levine, explaining that a witness might minimize the significance of a crime or try to see it as something other than it was.
McQueary may well have been psychologically unable to accept that a man like Sandusky, someone he admired, had actually committed the abhorrent crime he witnessed. Research suggests that when people are faced with situations that threaten their view of the world as relatively fair and decent, rather than revising their own perspective, they often create accounts that deny reality, blame the victim or otherwise rationalize the situation.
[...]
a key reason that child sex abuse often stays hidden is that it is difficult for people to accept that a trusted authority figure or loved one could do something so awful.
[...]
A third factor that influences the likelihood that people will intervene in violence is whether they feel their actions will be supported by others in the community around them.
[...]
The group norm in modern society in the U.K. — and in the U.S. — is that you don't get involved in other families' business. "They used to say in the '50s that children were 'everbody's children,'" says Levine. "Adults took responsibility for all children, rather than, 'I take responsibility for mine and you take responsibility for yours.'"
But these days, each family stands on its own. Such narrowly drawn lines of responsibility prevent intervention by outsiders, because people feel they will not be supported and may even be condemned for stepping in. Indeed, in our culture, it's considered taboo for outsiders to involve themselves in most family matters.
In contrast, in Sweden, hitting children was made illegal in 1979 and the rights of the child are considered in that culture to supersede those of the family. If someone is seen hitting a child on the street, other parents can and often will try to stop the harm.
[...]
tags: child abuse
..
By Maia Szalavitz Friday, November 11, 2011
The grand jury investigation that resulted in 40 counts of child abuse against Penn State's former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, has raised profoundly unsettling psychological and moral questions about the actions — or lack thereof — of others involved in the case.
Head football coach Joe Paterno was fired by the university on Wednesday for his failure to intervene upon learning about the alleged long-running abuse. But many more questions center on Mike McQueary, who is still employed by Penn State; he witnessed child rape firsthand in 2002, when he was a graduate assistant coach, but did not alert the police.
How is it that a powerfully built ex-quarterback could watch the rape of a 10-year-old boy and do nothing to stop it? Why did he neglect to report what he saw to legal authorities for nearly a decade, even knowing that the perpetrator spent much of his time with at-risk youth? And why did the team and the university fail to act at every possible step?
McQueary, who is now a wide receivers coach at Penn State, did tell his superior, Paterno, about the attack he witnessed eight years ago, but he did not call the police or get help for the boy at the time. (Now reportedly the focus of death threats, McQueary won't be coaching Saturday's game against Nebraska.) McQueary isn't the only alleged witness to do nothing: a Penn State janitor witnessed a separate assault on a child two years earlier, and similarly failed to contact police.
The rest of us would like to believe that no matter how small or scared we were, if we saw a child being raped, we'd step in and stop it, or at the very least call 911 immediately. But social psychology research on "bystander" behavior suggests that many of us might actually turn away.
The most famous instance of witness apathy involves the 1964 murder of 28-year-old Kitty Genovese in New York City. News accounts — and later, social psychology texts — said the victim and her screams were ignored by 38 witnesses as she was stabbed to death on a Queens street. (Genovese's killer was denied parole this week.)
But while research has shown that many such witnesses do fail to intervene, in part because they assume others around them will do so, it turns out that the popular account of the Genovese case is largely urban legend. There were not in fact 38 witnesses, but many fewer, and most onlookers said they did not see or hear the full assault; many of the witnesses did call police.
[...]
Levine, who first brought to the public's attention the problems with the Genovese case accounts, says that group dynamics do influence our actions, but not exactly the way we think. His own research has shown that being with others doesn't always — or even typically — reduce altruistic behavior. However, the type of group we're in and the relationships we have with its members, and with outsiders, do tend to influence how likely or unlikely we may be to help.
When the actions of a group are public and visible, insiders who behave in an unacceptable way — doing things that "contravene the norms of the group," Levine says — may actually be punished by the group more harshly than an outsider would be for the same behavior. "It's seen as a threat to the reputation of the group," says Levine.
In contrast, when the workings of a group are secretive and hidden — like those of a major college football team, for instance, or a political party or the Catholic priesthood — the tendency is toward protecting the group's reputation by covering up. Levine suggests that greater transparency in organizations promotes better behavior in these situations.
"It's the norms and the values of the group that are important," Levine says, noting that this fact doesn't reflect very well on Penn State. Indeed, the riot that broke out after the firing of revered coach Paterno — who appears to have covered up for his former colleague, Sandusky, or at least looked the other way, rather than reporting him to the police — suggests that group solidarity with the football team still takes priority over support for abused children at the school.
Another factor that may have prevented action by McQueary and others is denial. Social psychologist Stanley Cohen identified several forms of denial that may cause people to ignore atrocities. There's the denial that commonly occurs in response to difficult situations like receiving a cancer diagnosis or becoming addicted to drugs: the simple repressing of information and refusal to admit that the problem exists or has occurred.
In McQueary's case, however, there seems to have been another type of denial at play, which Cohen labeled "interpretative." "You don't deny that something happened, but try to transform the meaning of it," says Levine, explaining that a witness might minimize the significance of a crime or try to see it as something other than it was.
McQueary may well have been psychologically unable to accept that a man like Sandusky, someone he admired, had actually committed the abhorrent crime he witnessed. Research suggests that when people are faced with situations that threaten their view of the world as relatively fair and decent, rather than revising their own perspective, they often create accounts that deny reality, blame the victim or otherwise rationalize the situation.
[...]
a key reason that child sex abuse often stays hidden is that it is difficult for people to accept that a trusted authority figure or loved one could do something so awful.
[...]
A third factor that influences the likelihood that people will intervene in violence is whether they feel their actions will be supported by others in the community around them.
[...]
The group norm in modern society in the U.K. — and in the U.S. — is that you don't get involved in other families' business. "They used to say in the '50s that children were 'everbody's children,'" says Levine. "Adults took responsibility for all children, rather than, 'I take responsibility for mine and you take responsibility for yours.'"
But these days, each family stands on its own. Such narrowly drawn lines of responsibility prevent intervention by outsiders, because people feel they will not be supported and may even be condemned for stepping in. Indeed, in our culture, it's considered taboo for outsiders to involve themselves in most family matters.
In contrast, in Sweden, hitting children was made illegal in 1979 and the rights of the child are considered in that culture to supersede those of the family. If someone is seen hitting a child on the street, other parents can and often will try to stop the harm.
[...]
tags: child abuse
..
Sugary drinks hurt even skinny women's hearts
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45277790/ns/health-heart_health/#.TsBNvXKOu8s
By Lauren Cox
updated 11/13/2011 1:08:23 PM ET
Women who drink sugary beverages every day may raising their risk for heart disease, even if their habit is not packing on the pounds.
Whatever the form — sweet tea, soda, or coffee drinks that look like desserts — women who drank two or more sweet beverages a day were at an increased risk for heart disease, even if they did not gain weight over the five-year study, according to the findings presented Sunday at the American Heart Association's meeting in Orlando, Fla.
Large studies in the past — including the ongoing Framingham Heart Study, now in its 63rd year — have linked drinking sugar-sweetened beverages to heart disease.
[...]
Shay said it was "striking" that women with a sugary drinking habit developed high levels of triglycerides, which are a type of fat, but men did not.
Women who drank two or more sugary beverages per day were four times more likely to develop high triglyceride levels than women who drank fewer sugar-sweetened beverages. Women with the liquid sugar habit were also were more likely to develop abnormal levels of fasting glucose, a sign they could be developing diabetes.
[...]
..
By Lauren Cox
updated 11/13/2011 1:08:23 PM ET
Women who drink sugary beverages every day may raising their risk for heart disease, even if their habit is not packing on the pounds.
Whatever the form — sweet tea, soda, or coffee drinks that look like desserts — women who drank two or more sweet beverages a day were at an increased risk for heart disease, even if they did not gain weight over the five-year study, according to the findings presented Sunday at the American Heart Association's meeting in Orlando, Fla.
Large studies in the past — including the ongoing Framingham Heart Study, now in its 63rd year — have linked drinking sugar-sweetened beverages to heart disease.
[...]
Shay said it was "striking" that women with a sugary drinking habit developed high levels of triglycerides, which are a type of fat, but men did not.
Women who drank two or more sugary beverages per day were four times more likely to develop high triglyceride levels than women who drank fewer sugar-sweetened beverages. Women with the liquid sugar habit were also were more likely to develop abnormal levels of fasting glucose, a sign they could be developing diabetes.
[...]
..
Deliberate Drug poisoning of women may be increasing, study finds
http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/11/8753598-drug-poisoning-of-women-may-be-increasing-study-finds
By Rita Rubin Nov. 11, 2011
The number of people showing up in hospital ERs because of intentional poisoning appeared to soar between 2008 and 2009, a new federal study has found, but researchers say the increase may be due to increased reporting by hospitals, not necessarily an actual increase in poisonings.
"That’s a pretty significant jump, and we’re not sure why,” explains researcher Peter Delany, Ph.D. Improved reporting, rather that drastic changes in behavior, could be one factor. It’s too soon to tell whether the 2008-2009 jump is the beginning of a trend, Delany says, noting that 2010 data about intentional drug poisoning are expected shortly.
Slightly more than a quarter of the patients who showed up at ERs for this type of poisoning were under age 21.
[...]
A wide range of substances were involved in the ER visits, including pharmaceutical and illicit drugs, including "date rape" drugs such as Rohypnol
[...]
It's unclear why the numbers jumped in 2009, although Delaney believes hospital emergency departments and the government agency are getting better at determining intentional poisonings. SAMHSA's role is to track trends and incidents of substance abuse.
However, that doesn’t explain why women are targeted disproportionately. Increased awareness of "date rape" drugs, such as Rohypnol, could be a possibility, Delany suggests.
"You have to be thinking in some cases men are giving something intentionally to women…with the intention of taking advantage of them," he says. According to the new SAMHSA report, an estimated 3 million American women have experienced drug-related rape in their lifetime.
[...]
Intentional poisoning doesn’t necessarily mean someone is trying to kill the victim. In the report released Thursday, SAMHSA defines it as "a direct attempt to hurt someone or an attempt to render that person defenseless against other types of crime."
[...]
the new report notes, intentional poisoning probably is underestimated. Drugs commonly used to do it may leave the body too quickly to be detected, and some people who’ve been intentionally drugged might not seek immediate medical attention. Plus, Delany says, even if they do, they might not remember how they got sick.
Delany advises women, particularly young women, to be extra careful of their surroundings. He cautions, "Do you really want to take a drink from a guy you don’t know?"
tags: date rape
..
By Rita Rubin Nov. 11, 2011
The number of people showing up in hospital ERs because of intentional poisoning appeared to soar between 2008 and 2009, a new federal study has found, but researchers say the increase may be due to increased reporting by hospitals, not necessarily an actual increase in poisonings.
"That’s a pretty significant jump, and we’re not sure why,” explains researcher Peter Delany, Ph.D. Improved reporting, rather that drastic changes in behavior, could be one factor. It’s too soon to tell whether the 2008-2009 jump is the beginning of a trend, Delany says, noting that 2010 data about intentional drug poisoning are expected shortly.
Slightly more than a quarter of the patients who showed up at ERs for this type of poisoning were under age 21.
[...]
A wide range of substances were involved in the ER visits, including pharmaceutical and illicit drugs, including "date rape" drugs such as Rohypnol
[...]
It's unclear why the numbers jumped in 2009, although Delaney believes hospital emergency departments and the government agency are getting better at determining intentional poisonings. SAMHSA's role is to track trends and incidents of substance abuse.
However, that doesn’t explain why women are targeted disproportionately. Increased awareness of "date rape" drugs, such as Rohypnol, could be a possibility, Delany suggests.
"You have to be thinking in some cases men are giving something intentionally to women…with the intention of taking advantage of them," he says. According to the new SAMHSA report, an estimated 3 million American women have experienced drug-related rape in their lifetime.
[...]
Intentional poisoning doesn’t necessarily mean someone is trying to kill the victim. In the report released Thursday, SAMHSA defines it as "a direct attempt to hurt someone or an attempt to render that person defenseless against other types of crime."
[...]
the new report notes, intentional poisoning probably is underestimated. Drugs commonly used to do it may leave the body too quickly to be detected, and some people who’ve been intentionally drugged might not seek immediate medical attention. Plus, Delany says, even if they do, they might not remember how they got sick.
Delany advises women, particularly young women, to be extra careful of their surroundings. He cautions, "Do you really want to take a drink from a guy you don’t know?"
tags: date rape
..
Newt Gingrich’s Second Wife Dishes Hard To Esquire: His Money Woes, His Philandering, His Meltdown
I'm including this in my blog because a couple of days ago, NPR had a program where some people suggested Gingrich could end up as the Republican nominee for president in 2012, and they interviewed some woman who referred to him as "honorable".
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/08/gingrich_profile_featuring_ex-wife_begets_question.php
Megan Carpentier August 11, 2010, 8:42 AM
In 1999, after refusing to take the seat he won in the 1998 elections, Newt Gingrich left his second wife, Marianne, for a much-younger staffer with whom he’d been having an almost-ignored affair. As in his first marriage, he did so shortly after Marianne was diagnosed with a serious illness; as in his first divorce, he fought Marianne tooth and nail over any financial settlement. And then he had the Atlanta archdiocese inform Marianne that their marriage was invalid in the eyes of his fiancée’s faith; 9 years later, he completed his conversion to Catholicism.
[...]
Before marrying Marianne, Gingrich presented his first wife, Jackie Battley, with the terms of their divorce as she lay in a hospital bed recovering from surgery for uterine cancer. Gingrich had pursued Marianne from nearly the moment they met at a January 1980 fundraiser:
[...]
Of course, they weren’t. In April 1980, only one day after Jackie’s surgery, Newt went to her room to present her with the terms of the divorce. That summer, he introduced Marianne to his parents, according to Esquire. By October, he was already refusing to pay alimony or child support. Marianne admits she knew little of that at first.
At first, she had no idea that the wife he was divorcing was actually his high school geometry teacher, or that he went to the hospital to present her with divorce terms while she was recovering from uterine cancer and then fought the case so hard, Jackie had to get a court order just to pay her utility bills.
[...]
The divorce was finalized in February 1981; Marianne and Gingrich wed six months later in August. She says now that she probably should have known better. She told Esquire that he asked her to marry him after only a few weeks and before he was divorced, adding, “It’s not so much a compliment to me. It tells you a little bit about him.”
Esquire goes on to describe the financial pressures faced by the new couple: Gingrich declared keeping a budget “too stressful,” so Marianne took that over, looking to maintain homes in Georgia and D.C., pay Gingrich’s alimony and child support and reduce his massive personal debt. A Vanity Fair article from 1995 indicates that Jackie, too, was in charge of the household finances because of Gingrich’s spendthrift ways: in fact, the debt the couple faced when they married in 1981 wasn’t paid off until 1994.
[...]
Marianne said that, in the summer of 1997, Republican leadership attempted to stage an intervention with Marianne’s help. The problem was Gingrich’s “volcanic” temper — and when Gingrich arrived a the meeting, they told him that his anger was dysfunctional, and the dysfunction was causing the American people to turn against Congress and the Republicans. Gingrich appeared to listen - but, according to Marianne, “But from then on his behavior only got more erratic.” Despite his increasingly erratic behavior, Gingrich proceeded to hammer out several compromises with the Clinton Administration to balance the budget and cut taxes — until 1998, when the Lewinsky scandal exploded.
[...] [See the linked article for sordid details about some of Gingrich's extramarital activity]
It was then that Marianne went to the doctor and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. In early May — just before Mother’s Day — she went to Ohio to visit her mother. She told Esquire that Gingrich didn’t return her calls for two days — which, for a man that usually checked in several times a day, was quite unusual. And when he finally returned her calls, that’s when she knew.
He wanted to talk in person, he said.
“I said, ‘No, we need to talk now.’ “
He went quiet.
“There’s somebody else, isn’t there?”
She kind of guessed it, of course. Women usually do. But did she know the woman was in her apartment, eating off her plates, sleeping in her bed?
[..]
He asked her to just tolerate the affair, an offer she refused.
Undoubtedly, his mistress — a Callista Bisek, a former Hill staffer who was then 32 — would not have appreciated the comparison. Bisek and Gingrich had reportedly been having an affairs for 6 years before Gingrich told Marianne.
After Gingrich’s phoned-in confession, they talked at their home — just after he’d given a speech in Erie, Pennsylvania about the importance of family values. She told Esquire she asked him how he could give such a speech days after he’s admitted his affair to her and asked her to tolerate it
“It doesn’t matter what I do,” he answered. “People need to hear what I have to say. There’s no one else who can say what I can say. It doesn’t matter what I live.”
[...]
..
Broke! 10 Facts About The Financial Condition Of American Families
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/broke-10-facts-about-the-financial-condition-of-american-families-that-will-blow-your-mind
The crumbling U.S. economy is putting an extraordinary amount of financial stress on American families. For many Americans, "flat broke" has become a permanent condition. Today, over half of all American families live paycheck to paycheck. Unemployment is rampant and those that do actually have jobs are finding that their wages are rising much more slowly than prices are. The financial condition of average American families continues to decline and this is showing up in all of the recent surveys. For example, according to a new Gallup poll, "lack of money/low wages" is the number one financial concern for American families. To make ends meet, many American families are going into even more debt and more American families than ever are turning to government assistance. Right now, more Americans than at any other point since World War II are flat broke and have lost hope. Until this changes, the frustration level in this country is going to continue to grow.
The following are 10 facts about the financial condition of American families that will blow your mind.....
#1 Only 58 percent of Americans have a job right now.
#2 Only 56 percent of Americans are currently covered by employer-provided health insurance.
#3 The median yearly wage in the United States is $26,261.
#4 The average American household is carrying $75,600 in debt.
#5 Only the top 5 percent of U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.
#6 At this point, American families are approximately 7.7 trillion dollars poorer than they were back in early 2007.
#7 The poorest 50% of all Americans now own just 2.5% of all the wealth in the United States.
#8 According to one study, approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States were living below the poverty line in 2010.
#9 Today, there are more than 44 million Americans on food stamps, and nearly half of them are children.
#10 According to Newsweek, close to 20 percent of all American men between the ages of 25 and 54 do not have a job at the moment.
..
The crumbling U.S. economy is putting an extraordinary amount of financial stress on American families. For many Americans, "flat broke" has become a permanent condition. Today, over half of all American families live paycheck to paycheck. Unemployment is rampant and those that do actually have jobs are finding that their wages are rising much more slowly than prices are. The financial condition of average American families continues to decline and this is showing up in all of the recent surveys. For example, according to a new Gallup poll, "lack of money/low wages" is the number one financial concern for American families. To make ends meet, many American families are going into even more debt and more American families than ever are turning to government assistance. Right now, more Americans than at any other point since World War II are flat broke and have lost hope. Until this changes, the frustration level in this country is going to continue to grow.
The following are 10 facts about the financial condition of American families that will blow your mind.....
#1 Only 58 percent of Americans have a job right now.
#2 Only 56 percent of Americans are currently covered by employer-provided health insurance.
#3 The median yearly wage in the United States is $26,261.
#4 The average American household is carrying $75,600 in debt.
#5 Only the top 5 percent of U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.
#6 At this point, American families are approximately 7.7 trillion dollars poorer than they were back in early 2007.
#7 The poorest 50% of all Americans now own just 2.5% of all the wealth in the United States.
#8 According to one study, approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States were living below the poverty line in 2010.
#9 Today, there are more than 44 million Americans on food stamps, and nearly half of them are children.
#10 According to Newsweek, close to 20 percent of all American men between the ages of 25 and 54 do not have a job at the moment.
..
Friday, November 11, 2011
Volunteering, Helping Others Decreases Substance Use in Rural Teens
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111110151703.htm
ScienceDaily (Nov. 10, 2011) — Young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 report the highest rates of substance use and dependence, according to the U.S. National Survey on Drug Use & Health. A new study from the University of Missouri found that rural adolescents who engage in prosocial behaviors, such as volunteering and helping others, are less likely to use substances as young adults.
Gustavo Carlo, Millsap Professor of Diversity in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, examined data from surveys given to a group of rural youths from junior high school to young adulthood. Carlo found that prosocial behaviors serve as protective factors against adolescents engaging in risky behaviors. Thus, teens who engage in more prosocial behaviors are less likely to get drunk or use marijuana as young adults.
"Prosocial behaviors are good for society and communities, but also they are a marker of moral development," Carlo said. "Parents want their kids to be kind, selfless, considerate and respectful. We now have evidence that these prosocial behaviors make adolescents less likely to break moral codes and engage in illegal activities like getting drink and smoking marijuana."
ScienceDaily: Your source for the latest research news and science breakthroughs -- updated daily
Science News
Blog Cite
Save Email Print Share
Volunteering, Helping Others Decreases Substance Use in Rural Teens, Study Finds
ScienceDaily (Nov. 10, 2011) — Young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 report the highest rates of substance use and dependence, according to the U.S. National Survey on Drug Use & Health. A new study from the University of Missouri found that rural adolescents who engage in prosocial behaviors, such as volunteering and helping others, are less likely to use substances as young adults.
See Also:
Health & Medicine
Teen Health
Children's Health
Mind & Brain
Child Psychology
Behavior
Science & Society
Urbanization
Public Health
Reference
Adolescence
Sex education
Addiction
Substance abuse
Gustavo Carlo, Millsap Professor of Diversity in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, examined data from surveys given to a group of rural youths from junior high school to young adulthood. Carlo found that prosocial behaviors serve as protective factors against adolescents engaging in risky behaviors. Thus, teens who engage in more prosocial behaviors are less likely to get drunk or use marijuana as young adults.
"Prosocial behaviors are good for society and communities, but also they are a marker of moral development," Carlo said. "Parents want their kids to be kind, selfless, considerate and respectful. We now have evidence that these prosocial behaviors make adolescents less likely to break moral codes and engage in illegal activities like getting drink and smoking marijuana."
The study focused on rural youths because previous research indicates they may be more apt to use illicit substances earlier, putting them at risk for developing addiction problems as adults. Rural communities tend to be more spread out, making it difficult for adolescents to get transportation to events and activities. In addition, rural communities often have less access to recreation centers, spaces for meetings, volunteers to run programs and funding for organized activities.
"There is a tendency for youths to take part in risky behaviors if they are not engaged in positive, structured activities," Carlo said. "Many rural communities have suffered from the economic downturn and are unable to offer opportunities for youth activities. Financial stress can also affect the psychological health of parents making them less cognizant of how children spend their time."
Carlo says the research has important implications for substance use prevention and intervention programs aimed at teens.
"Research shows that prevention programs are more effective and economical," Carlo said. "If we can develop programs that foster prosocial behaviors, we know the programs will decrease the likelihood that adolescents will use substances in adulthood.
..
ScienceDaily (Nov. 10, 2011) — Young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 report the highest rates of substance use and dependence, according to the U.S. National Survey on Drug Use & Health. A new study from the University of Missouri found that rural adolescents who engage in prosocial behaviors, such as volunteering and helping others, are less likely to use substances as young adults.
Gustavo Carlo, Millsap Professor of Diversity in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, examined data from surveys given to a group of rural youths from junior high school to young adulthood. Carlo found that prosocial behaviors serve as protective factors against adolescents engaging in risky behaviors. Thus, teens who engage in more prosocial behaviors are less likely to get drunk or use marijuana as young adults.
"Prosocial behaviors are good for society and communities, but also they are a marker of moral development," Carlo said. "Parents want their kids to be kind, selfless, considerate and respectful. We now have evidence that these prosocial behaviors make adolescents less likely to break moral codes and engage in illegal activities like getting drink and smoking marijuana."
ScienceDaily: Your source for the latest research news and science breakthroughs -- updated daily
Science News
Blog Cite
Save Email Print Share
Volunteering, Helping Others Decreases Substance Use in Rural Teens, Study Finds
ScienceDaily (Nov. 10, 2011) — Young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 report the highest rates of substance use and dependence, according to the U.S. National Survey on Drug Use & Health. A new study from the University of Missouri found that rural adolescents who engage in prosocial behaviors, such as volunteering and helping others, are less likely to use substances as young adults.
See Also:
Health & Medicine
Teen Health
Children's Health
Mind & Brain
Child Psychology
Behavior
Science & Society
Urbanization
Public Health
Reference
Adolescence
Sex education
Addiction
Substance abuse
Gustavo Carlo, Millsap Professor of Diversity in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, examined data from surveys given to a group of rural youths from junior high school to young adulthood. Carlo found that prosocial behaviors serve as protective factors against adolescents engaging in risky behaviors. Thus, teens who engage in more prosocial behaviors are less likely to get drunk or use marijuana as young adults.
"Prosocial behaviors are good for society and communities, but also they are a marker of moral development," Carlo said. "Parents want their kids to be kind, selfless, considerate and respectful. We now have evidence that these prosocial behaviors make adolescents less likely to break moral codes and engage in illegal activities like getting drink and smoking marijuana."
The study focused on rural youths because previous research indicates they may be more apt to use illicit substances earlier, putting them at risk for developing addiction problems as adults. Rural communities tend to be more spread out, making it difficult for adolescents to get transportation to events and activities. In addition, rural communities often have less access to recreation centers, spaces for meetings, volunteers to run programs and funding for organized activities.
"There is a tendency for youths to take part in risky behaviors if they are not engaged in positive, structured activities," Carlo said. "Many rural communities have suffered from the economic downturn and are unable to offer opportunities for youth activities. Financial stress can also affect the psychological health of parents making them less cognizant of how children spend their time."
Carlo says the research has important implications for substance use prevention and intervention programs aimed at teens.
"Research shows that prevention programs are more effective and economical," Carlo said. "If we can develop programs that foster prosocial behaviors, we know the programs will decrease the likelihood that adolescents will use substances in adulthood.
..
How to Help
If you want to donate to an organization to help the various disasters happening around the world, see this link, which has links to the listed organizations. The article is on the Pakistan flooding tradegy, but most or all of these organization help around the world. I suggest NOT designating your contribution to a specific event, because often a highly publicized disaster will generate more donations than are needed for that event, then there are fewer donations for other needs.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/08/05/help.pakistan/index.html#fbid=ZVRHXQBaMxY&wom=false
AmeriCares emergency relief experts are working to send medical assistance and other aid to the flood-affected region in Pakistan. They are accepting online donations as well as phone donations at 1-800-486-HELP (4357)
The American Red Cross, working with its partners in the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent network, including the Pakistan Red Crescent Society, is sending relief supplies and emergency workers. Donations to online to their Pakistan Relief and Development Fund, or call 1-800-RED CROSS. Monetary donations in pounds can be made to the British Red Cross online or by calling 0845 054 7206 in England.
Video: Helping flood victims
Video: Millions affected by floods
CARE is supporting the distribution of emergency supplies and providing aid to health teams and mobile clinics in the affected communities in Pakistan. You can help by making an online donation.
Catholic Relief Services is currently organizing shipments of humanitarian aid to Balochistan, one of the affected areas. They are also sending emergency shelter kits and hygiene supplies to other flood-affected regions in Pakistan. Donations to their Emergency Relief fund are being accepted online and by phone at 1-800-736-3467.
Concern Worldwide US is responding by sending emergency teams to the region, and they have launched their Pakistan Emergency Flood Appeal. They are working to provide about 9,000 families with kitchen sets and hygiene kits, clean water, temporary sanitation, and dry rations of food. Online donations can be made dollars, euros and pounds.
Church World Service is distributing food packages and shelter material for flood-affected families in Balochistan, Khan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as well as mobilizing a health unit to offer emergency medical assistance in Mansehra. Your donation can be made online and by phone at 1-800.297-1516.
Direct Relief International is providing emergency medical aid to healthcare partners responding to disaster in Pakistan. Donations to their Emergency Response fund can me made online and by calling 1-800-676-1638.
Doctor's Without Borders is supporting basic health units in the flood-affected areas of Pakistan. The organization is also helping with water distribution to health structures, as well as hygiene products, cooking sets and other supplies. They are planning to send additional personnel and mobilizing resources to assist relief efforts. Contributions can be made online and by phone at 1-888-392-0392.
The International Rescue Committee has been working in Pakistan for the past 30 years, in many of the areas directly affected by this current crisis. They are focused on water and sanitation, disease prevention, and the distribution of hygiene kits and the tools flood victims will need to rebuild. They are also mobilizing workers for cash for work programs as a way to generate income. You can support the IRC's efforts in Pakistan online or by calling 877 REFUGEE.
Islamic Relief USA is providing food and water for 700 families In Noshara, distributing emergency supplies and working with the United Nations World Food Program to distribute food to 2,000 families in Bakhtiarabad. Islamic Relief has launched a campaign to aid the victims of the floods, which you can support by making an online donation.
Mercy Corps is accepting donations to provide flood victims in the hard-hit Swat Valley with water, food and tools to clean up and rebuild. You can donate online.
Operation Blessing International is sending emergency medical relief teams to Peshawar, Pakistan. Working with their disaster relief partner charity Humedica, OBI will offer medical treatment and distribute food, clean drinking water and emergency building supplies to thousands in need from this flood. Support for OBI's disaster relief efforts can be made online or by calling 1-800-730-2537.
Oxfam Great Britain is looking to provide the needed temporary shelter, clean drinking water and toilets to help avert a public health catastrophe. They are accepting online donations in pounds, euros and dollars, and can be reached by telephone internationally at +44 (0) 1865 47 2602. In England, you can text 'DONATE' to 70066 to make a donation of 5 pounds to their Pakistan Floods Appeal.
Save the Children is providing food and water, shelter, sanitation and other immediate needs for the families and communities affected by this disaster. They are accepting donations to their Pakistan Children in Emergency Fund online as well as by phone by calling 1-800-728-3843.
ShelterBox distributed hundreds of ShelterBoxes to families rescued from the flood in the Punjab and Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KPK) regions. Find out how to become part of the ShelterBox Team or help the efforts by making an online donation in the UK and the US.
SOS Children's Villages supports the children of Pakistan through different programs across the country and offers care of lone children following the disaster, as they did after the Kashmir Earthquake. You can make a direct donation in dollars or pounds and you can sponsor a child in Pakistan here.
UNICEF's Pakistan office is providing assistance for water and sanitation, health, and nutrition. They are distributing clean water and water purification tablets to prevent water-borne diseases and will continue to asses the situation to determine if further fundraising appeal is needed. If you are interested in becoming a UNICEF volunteer click here or support flood-relief efforts by making an online donation.
The UN Refugee Agency is delivering emergency assistance (shelter, tents, blankets, mosquito nets and other life-saving aid) to more than 350,000 people affected by the disaster. They are accepting donations online, by selecting the Pakistan Flood Emergency here. They are also accepting mobile donations by texting'Swat' to 50555 to give $10 dollars.
World Food Programme is making food distributions to 35,000 families affected by the flooding in Northwestern Pakistan. WFP Pakistan plans to assist up to 150,000 families over the next few months as access to the affected areas improves. You can help by making an online donation in either euros, dollars, pounds or yens.
World Vision is working to distribute food and clean water to the affected communities in Pakistan. They have created the World Vision's Flood Relief Fund which you can support it by making an online donation.
----- (skipping)
..
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/08/05/help.pakistan/index.html#fbid=ZVRHXQBaMxY&wom=false
AmeriCares emergency relief experts are working to send medical assistance and other aid to the flood-affected region in Pakistan. They are accepting online donations as well as phone donations at 1-800-486-HELP (4357)
The American Red Cross, working with its partners in the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent network, including the Pakistan Red Crescent Society, is sending relief supplies and emergency workers. Donations to online to their Pakistan Relief and Development Fund, or call 1-800-RED CROSS. Monetary donations in pounds can be made to the British Red Cross online or by calling 0845 054 7206 in England.
Video: Helping flood victims
Video: Millions affected by floods
CARE is supporting the distribution of emergency supplies and providing aid to health teams and mobile clinics in the affected communities in Pakistan. You can help by making an online donation.
Catholic Relief Services is currently organizing shipments of humanitarian aid to Balochistan, one of the affected areas. They are also sending emergency shelter kits and hygiene supplies to other flood-affected regions in Pakistan. Donations to their Emergency Relief fund are being accepted online and by phone at 1-800-736-3467.
Concern Worldwide US is responding by sending emergency teams to the region, and they have launched their Pakistan Emergency Flood Appeal. They are working to provide about 9,000 families with kitchen sets and hygiene kits, clean water, temporary sanitation, and dry rations of food. Online donations can be made dollars, euros and pounds.
Church World Service is distributing food packages and shelter material for flood-affected families in Balochistan, Khan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as well as mobilizing a health unit to offer emergency medical assistance in Mansehra. Your donation can be made online and by phone at 1-800.297-1516.
Direct Relief International is providing emergency medical aid to healthcare partners responding to disaster in Pakistan. Donations to their Emergency Response fund can me made online and by calling 1-800-676-1638.
Doctor's Without Borders is supporting basic health units in the flood-affected areas of Pakistan. The organization is also helping with water distribution to health structures, as well as hygiene products, cooking sets and other supplies. They are planning to send additional personnel and mobilizing resources to assist relief efforts. Contributions can be made online and by phone at 1-888-392-0392.
The International Rescue Committee has been working in Pakistan for the past 30 years, in many of the areas directly affected by this current crisis. They are focused on water and sanitation, disease prevention, and the distribution of hygiene kits and the tools flood victims will need to rebuild. They are also mobilizing workers for cash for work programs as a way to generate income. You can support the IRC's efforts in Pakistan online or by calling 877 REFUGEE.
Islamic Relief USA is providing food and water for 700 families In Noshara, distributing emergency supplies and working with the United Nations World Food Program to distribute food to 2,000 families in Bakhtiarabad. Islamic Relief has launched a campaign to aid the victims of the floods, which you can support by making an online donation.
Mercy Corps is accepting donations to provide flood victims in the hard-hit Swat Valley with water, food and tools to clean up and rebuild. You can donate online.
Operation Blessing International is sending emergency medical relief teams to Peshawar, Pakistan. Working with their disaster relief partner charity Humedica, OBI will offer medical treatment and distribute food, clean drinking water and emergency building supplies to thousands in need from this flood. Support for OBI's disaster relief efforts can be made online or by calling 1-800-730-2537.
Oxfam Great Britain is looking to provide the needed temporary shelter, clean drinking water and toilets to help avert a public health catastrophe. They are accepting online donations in pounds, euros and dollars, and can be reached by telephone internationally at +44 (0) 1865 47 2602. In England, you can text 'DONATE' to 70066 to make a donation of 5 pounds to their Pakistan Floods Appeal.
Save the Children is providing food and water, shelter, sanitation and other immediate needs for the families and communities affected by this disaster. They are accepting donations to their Pakistan Children in Emergency Fund online as well as by phone by calling 1-800-728-3843.
ShelterBox distributed hundreds of ShelterBoxes to families rescued from the flood in the Punjab and Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KPK) regions. Find out how to become part of the ShelterBox Team or help the efforts by making an online donation in the UK and the US.
SOS Children's Villages supports the children of Pakistan through different programs across the country and offers care of lone children following the disaster, as they did after the Kashmir Earthquake. You can make a direct donation in dollars or pounds and you can sponsor a child in Pakistan here.
UNICEF's Pakistan office is providing assistance for water and sanitation, health, and nutrition. They are distributing clean water and water purification tablets to prevent water-borne diseases and will continue to asses the situation to determine if further fundraising appeal is needed. If you are interested in becoming a UNICEF volunteer click here or support flood-relief efforts by making an online donation.
The UN Refugee Agency is delivering emergency assistance (shelter, tents, blankets, mosquito nets and other life-saving aid) to more than 350,000 people affected by the disaster. They are accepting donations online, by selecting the Pakistan Flood Emergency here. They are also accepting mobile donations by texting'Swat' to 50555 to give $10 dollars.
World Food Programme is making food distributions to 35,000 families affected by the flooding in Northwestern Pakistan. WFP Pakistan plans to assist up to 150,000 families over the next few months as access to the affected areas improves. You can help by making an online donation in either euros, dollars, pounds or yens.
World Vision is working to distribute food and clean water to the affected communities in Pakistan. They have created the World Vision's Flood Relief Fund which you can support it by making an online donation.
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..
Turkey quake death toll grows
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/11/world/turkey-earthquake/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
From Ivan Watson, CNN
updated 5:50 PM EST, Fri November 11, 2011
Van, Turkey (CNN) -- Dozens of rescue workers laboring with jackhammers and hacksaws searched the rubble of a five-story hotel Friday, two days after it collapsed in a 5.6-magnitude earthquake.
The death toll from Wednesday's quake grew Friday to 25, the Emergency Crisis Center said.
Tearful relatives stood shivering on the perimeter of the around-the-clock rescue operation at Van's devastated Bayram Hotel, where thick flakes of snow were falling. This time, members of Turkey's press corps joined in the agonizing vigil for news about missing loved ones.
The body of Cem Emir, one of two journalists from Turkey's DHA news agency believed to be buried in the rubble, was found Friday. The condition of the other reporter, Sebahattin Yilmaz, was not known.
The reporters had been staying in the hotel while reporting on the aftermath of last month's 7.2-magnitude earthquake, which occurred in the same region, killing more than 500 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless. Earlier reports that said the two had been tweeting from under the rubble proved false, DHA said.
[...]
..
From Ivan Watson, CNN
updated 5:50 PM EST, Fri November 11, 2011
Van, Turkey (CNN) -- Dozens of rescue workers laboring with jackhammers and hacksaws searched the rubble of a five-story hotel Friday, two days after it collapsed in a 5.6-magnitude earthquake.
The death toll from Wednesday's quake grew Friday to 25, the Emergency Crisis Center said.
Tearful relatives stood shivering on the perimeter of the around-the-clock rescue operation at Van's devastated Bayram Hotel, where thick flakes of snow were falling. This time, members of Turkey's press corps joined in the agonizing vigil for news about missing loved ones.
The body of Cem Emir, one of two journalists from Turkey's DHA news agency believed to be buried in the rubble, was found Friday. The condition of the other reporter, Sebahattin Yilmaz, was not known.
The reporters had been staying in the hotel while reporting on the aftermath of last month's 7.2-magnitude earthquake, which occurred in the same region, killing more than 500 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless. Earlier reports that said the two had been tweeting from under the rubble proved false, DHA said.
[...]
..
What is wrong with some Penn State students?
We have some warped people in this society if they value winning at sports over the welfare of children.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/10/health/survivors-penn-unrest/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Survivors of sexual abuse appalled by Penn State unrest
By Madison Park, CNN
updated 11:44 AM EST, Fri November 11, 2011
How does a survivor of sexual abuse respond to students rioting at Penn State?
"You're not getting it. You just don't get it," said Dave Lorenz who was abused by a priest as a teen.
"It's just stupid youthfulness."
Earlier this week, legendary head football coach Joe Paterno was removed in the midst of a scandal involving sexual abuse allegations against a former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky.
What started as an apparent celebration of Paterno turned into a riot in the Pennsylvania town of State College. The crowd tipped over a news van and decried the media in anger Wednesday night. They held signs in support of "JoePa" -- a nickname for Paterno.
Some said their frustration stemmed from the media's focus on Paterno, rather than the charges against Sandusky.
Watching footage of Penn State students rioting in the streets Wednesday night, Lorenzo shuddered, then hung his head.
What bothered Lorenz is that students "rallied around (Paterno's) house, cheering him up."
"The kids up there just don't understand what this does," he said.
"Stop thinking of the adult and start thinking of what happens to a child that goes through this. You love the adult, you may not know the kid. Start thinking of the kid and the horror they go through, because it's hell."
Paterno has been under scrutiny because of his response to allegations brought to him in 2002 by a graduate assistant. The assistant allegedly said he witnessed Sandusky, now 67, having sex with a young boy in a shower at the campus football complex, according to a grand jury indictment.
Paterno reported the allegations to his boss and Pennsylvania's attorney general said it appeared Paterno had met his obligations under state law. But critics said the coach should have reported the suspected abuse to police.
[...]
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Google launches tools for veterans, families and friends
digitallife.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/11/8758613-google-launches-tools-for-veterans-families-and-friends
By Helen A.S. Popkin Nov. 11, 2011
"There are almost 22 million military veterans in the United States today and millions more around the world," writes Google’s Chief Legal Officer David Drummond in a Google+ post announcing the new website Google For Veterans, as well a Veteran's Channelon YouTube. Launched on Veterans Day, the new services offer "some new tools to help these vets —and their families — find new ways of connecting online."
"My father was a Tuskegee Airman and a veteran of WWII and Vietnam, so it's important to me that Google supports veterans," Drummond adds. "I'm proud of the work we're doing on this front."
Built by Google employees who served in the military, or have loved ones who do, Google For Veterans offers tools for veterans transitioning to civilian life, those who are still deployed, as well as their families back home.
Much of the site is composed of pre-existing Google tools, including Google Docs, Calendar, Gmail, Picasa and Google Maps, which Google encourages site members to use to record their military experiences. Building a resume, tracking investments and connecting with fellow veterans are also encouraged.
Similar features are offered in the family section of the site, which includes links to information on veteran issues and peer support, and tools to memorialize loved ones.
The website links to Google's Veteran Channel on YouTube, where users are welcomed with a message from first lady Michelle Obama. The channel offers videos on transition tips and invites veterans to share videos in which they discuss their experiences, and invites civilians to post questions and tributes.
[...]
..
By Helen A.S. Popkin Nov. 11, 2011
"There are almost 22 million military veterans in the United States today and millions more around the world," writes Google’s Chief Legal Officer David Drummond in a Google+ post announcing the new website Google For Veterans, as well a Veteran's Channelon YouTube. Launched on Veterans Day, the new services offer "some new tools to help these vets —and their families — find new ways of connecting online."
"My father was a Tuskegee Airman and a veteran of WWII and Vietnam, so it's important to me that Google supports veterans," Drummond adds. "I'm proud of the work we're doing on this front."
Built by Google employees who served in the military, or have loved ones who do, Google For Veterans offers tools for veterans transitioning to civilian life, those who are still deployed, as well as their families back home.
Much of the site is composed of pre-existing Google tools, including Google Docs, Calendar, Gmail, Picasa and Google Maps, which Google encourages site members to use to record their military experiences. Building a resume, tracking investments and connecting with fellow veterans are also encouraged.
Similar features are offered in the family section of the site, which includes links to information on veteran issues and peer support, and tools to memorialize loved ones.
The website links to Google's Veteran Channel on YouTube, where users are welcomed with a message from first lady Michelle Obama. The channel offers videos on transition tips and invites veterans to share videos in which they discuss their experiences, and invites civilians to post questions and tributes.
[...]
..
On Veteran’s Day, Romney suggests ‘voucher’ system for vet benefits
There would be an added administrative cost. And voucher systems often or usually do not keep up with inflation.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/11/11/on-veterans-day-romney-suggests-voucher-system-for-vet-benefits/
By David Edwards
Friday, November 11, 2011
At an Veteran’s Day campaign event in South Carolina Friday, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney hinted that he might introduce “private sector competition” for veterans’ health care and other benefits.
Romney told a group of veterans Mutt’s BBQ in Mauldin that it might be possible to create a “voucher” system.
“When you work in the private sector and you have a competitor, you know if I don’t treat this customer right, they’re going to leave me and go somewhere else,” the candidate said. “Whereas if you’re the government, they know there’s nowhere else you guys can go. You’re stuck.”
Romney added: “Sometimes you wonder if there would be some way to introduce some private sector competition, somebody else that could come in and say, you know, each soldier gets X thousand dollars attributed to them. And then they can choose whether they want to go into the government system or the private system with the money that follows them.”
“Like what happens in Florida, where people have a voucher that goes with them. Who knows?”
Last week, the former Massachusetts governor proposed a Medicare overhaul that would also include the option of vouchers, a plan similar to one offered by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) earlier this year.
A Bloomberg Government study found that the Ryan plan would result in very little health care savings.
..
Anonymous Hackers Take Down Child Porn Websites, Leak Users' Names
http://www.securitynewsdaily.com/anonymous-hackers-child-porn-sites-1260/
Oct 20, 2011 | 2:21 PM ET | By Matt Liebowitz, SecurityNewsDaily Staff Writer
Members of the Anonymous hacktivist movement are claiming responsibility for taking down more than 40 secret child-pornography websites and leaking the names of more than 1,500 members of one of the illegal sites.
The Anonymous campaign began Oct. 14, when members of the hacktivist group found a cache of child-pornography websites while browsing a secret website called the Hidden Wiki, a guidebook to hundreds of underground websites invisible to search engines and regular Internet users. The hackers singled out Lolita City, a file-sharing site used by pedophiles, and leaked the names of the site's 1,589 active members to Pastebin on Tuesday (Oct. 18), the Examiner reported.
Member of Anonymous deciding to hack a website whose stance they don't agree with is by no means shocking news. In the past year, Anonymous-affiliated hackers have gone after the New York Stock Exchange, the Westboro Baptist Church, the Recording Industry Association of America and government sites in Malaysia, Egypt, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.
However, in targeting child pornography sites, and in explaining its methods of attack, these Anonymous-affiliated hackers have revealed a deeply disturbing side of the Internet unknown to most people.
The so-called "darknet," from which this "Operation Darknet" hacking campaign takes its name, is any part of the Internet that is hidden from view — not just hard to reach, but deliberately concealed. In this instance, a darknet appears to have grown out of the free TOR routing service, which offers anonymous, encrypted Web browsing to any user.
The TOR-based darknet has reportedly grown into a private, encrypted constellation of websites offering a variety of shady and illegal services, from fake IDs and steroids to email hacking and tip on how to call in police raids as pranks. There's even a hidden site called "The Last Box" that bills itself as an "Assassination Market."
Only computers that have installed TOR browser plug-ins can access the TOR-based darknet, including its guidebook the Hidden Wiki, the security site Infosec Island reported.
[...]
..
Oct 20, 2011 | 2:21 PM ET | By Matt Liebowitz, SecurityNewsDaily Staff Writer
Members of the Anonymous hacktivist movement are claiming responsibility for taking down more than 40 secret child-pornography websites and leaking the names of more than 1,500 members of one of the illegal sites.
The Anonymous campaign began Oct. 14, when members of the hacktivist group found a cache of child-pornography websites while browsing a secret website called the Hidden Wiki, a guidebook to hundreds of underground websites invisible to search engines and regular Internet users. The hackers singled out Lolita City, a file-sharing site used by pedophiles, and leaked the names of the site's 1,589 active members to Pastebin on Tuesday (Oct. 18), the Examiner reported.
Member of Anonymous deciding to hack a website whose stance they don't agree with is by no means shocking news. In the past year, Anonymous-affiliated hackers have gone after the New York Stock Exchange, the Westboro Baptist Church, the Recording Industry Association of America and government sites in Malaysia, Egypt, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.
However, in targeting child pornography sites, and in explaining its methods of attack, these Anonymous-affiliated hackers have revealed a deeply disturbing side of the Internet unknown to most people.
The so-called "darknet," from which this "Operation Darknet" hacking campaign takes its name, is any part of the Internet that is hidden from view — not just hard to reach, but deliberately concealed. In this instance, a darknet appears to have grown out of the free TOR routing service, which offers anonymous, encrypted Web browsing to any user.
The TOR-based darknet has reportedly grown into a private, encrypted constellation of websites offering a variety of shady and illegal services, from fake IDs and steroids to email hacking and tip on how to call in police raids as pranks. There's even a hidden site called "The Last Box" that bills itself as an "Assassination Market."
Only computers that have installed TOR browser plug-ins can access the TOR-based darknet, including its guidebook the Hidden Wiki, the security site Infosec Island reported.
[...]
..
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Routine Iron Fortification of Infant Formula Linked to Poorer Development
As usual, balance is what is needed, enough but not too much.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111108094429.htm
ScienceDaily (Nov. 8, 2011) — A long-term study examining iron-fortified vs. low-iron infant formula suggests that infants with high hemoglobin levels who received iron fortified infant formula have poorer long-term developmental outcomes.
The study, conducted in Santiago, Chile, was published online ahead of print in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, and raises questions about the optimal amount of iron in infant formula.
"The high prevalence of iron deficiency in infancy has led to routine iron fortification of infant formula and foods in many countries," says lead study author Betsy Lozoff, M.D., a behavioral pediatrician at the University of Michigan Health System and research professor at the University of Michigan Center for Human Growth and Development.
"These interventions help reduce iron-deficiency anemia and iron deficiency without anemia. However, the optimal amount of iron in such products, especially infant formula, is debated," she says.
Iron deficiency affects roughly 25 percent of the world's babies. Some have iron deficiency anemia, in which a lack of iron causes problems with hemoglobin -- the compound that red blood cells use to transport oxygen through the bloodstream.
[...]
The 10-year assessment included 473 children and researchers measured IQ, spatial memory, arithmetic achievement, visual-motor integration, visual perception and motor functioning.
Compared to the low-iron group, the iron-fortified group scored lower on every 10-year outcome measured.
[...]
Less than 10 percent of infants in the iron-fortified group met criteria for iron deficiency.
The authors also found that children with the highest hemoglobin levels at 6 months of age had lower 10-year scores if they had received the iron-fortified formula, but those with the lowest 6-month hemoglobin levels had higher scores.
[...]
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Looks Do Matter in Job Interviews, According to New Study
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111109115820.htm
ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2011) — People with birthmarks, scars and other facial disfigurements are more likely to receive poor ratings in job interviews, according to a new study by researchers at Rice University and the University of Houston.
"Discrimination Against Facially Stigmatized Applicants in Interviews: An Eye-Tracking and Face-to-Face Investigation" was published online last month in the Journal of Applied Psychology and is one of the first studies to examine how individuals with facial blemishes fare in job interviews. The findings show that interviewers recalled less information about these candidates, which negatively impacted evaluations of the applicants.
"When evaluating applicants in an interview setting, it's important to remember what they are saying," Rice Professor of Psychology Mikki Hebl said. "Our research shows if you recall less information about competent candidates because you are distracted by characteristics on their face, it decreases your overall evaluations of them."
[...]
..
ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2011) — People with birthmarks, scars and other facial disfigurements are more likely to receive poor ratings in job interviews, according to a new study by researchers at Rice University and the University of Houston.
"Discrimination Against Facially Stigmatized Applicants in Interviews: An Eye-Tracking and Face-to-Face Investigation" was published online last month in the Journal of Applied Psychology and is one of the first studies to examine how individuals with facial blemishes fare in job interviews. The findings show that interviewers recalled less information about these candidates, which negatively impacted evaluations of the applicants.
"When evaluating applicants in an interview setting, it's important to remember what they are saying," Rice Professor of Psychology Mikki Hebl said. "Our research shows if you recall less information about competent candidates because you are distracted by characteristics on their face, it decreases your overall evaluations of them."
[...]
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Methane May Be Answer to 56-Million-Year Question
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111109111542.htm
ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2011) — The release of massive amounts of carbon from methane hydrate frozen under the seafloor 56 million years ago has been linked to the greatest change in global climate since a dinosaur-killing asteroid presumably hit Earth 9 million years earlier. New calculations by researchers at Rice University show that this long-controversial scenario is quite possible.
Nobody knows for sure what started the incident, but there's no doubt Earth's temperature rose by as much as 6 degrees Celsius [10.8 degrees Fahrenheit]. That affected the planet for up to 150,000 years, until excess carbon in the oceans and atmosphere was reabsorbed into sediment.
Earth's ecosystem changed and many species went extinct during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) 56 million years ago, when at least 2,500 gigatonnes of carbon, eventually in the form of carbon dioxide, were released into the ocean and atmosphere. (The era is described in great detail in a recent National Geographic feature.)
A new report by Rice scientists in Nature Geoscience suggests that at the time, even though methane-containing gas hydrates -- the "ice that burns" -- occupied only a small zone of sediment under the seabed before the PETM, there could have been as much stored then as there is now.
This is a concern to those who believe the continued burning of fossil fuels by humans could someday trigger another feedback loop that disturbs the stability of methane hydrate under the ocean and in permafrost; this change could warm the atmosphere and prompt the release of large amounts of methane, a more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
Some who study the PETM blame the worldwide burning of peat, volcanic activity or a massive asteroid strike as the source of the carbon, "but there's no crater, or any soot or evidence of the burning of peat," said Gerald Dickens, a Rice professor of Earth science and an author of the study, who thinks the new paper bolsters the argument for hydrates.
[...]
..
ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2011) — The release of massive amounts of carbon from methane hydrate frozen under the seafloor 56 million years ago has been linked to the greatest change in global climate since a dinosaur-killing asteroid presumably hit Earth 9 million years earlier. New calculations by researchers at Rice University show that this long-controversial scenario is quite possible.
Nobody knows for sure what started the incident, but there's no doubt Earth's temperature rose by as much as 6 degrees Celsius [10.8 degrees Fahrenheit]. That affected the planet for up to 150,000 years, until excess carbon in the oceans and atmosphere was reabsorbed into sediment.
Earth's ecosystem changed and many species went extinct during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) 56 million years ago, when at least 2,500 gigatonnes of carbon, eventually in the form of carbon dioxide, were released into the ocean and atmosphere. (The era is described in great detail in a recent National Geographic feature.)
A new report by Rice scientists in Nature Geoscience suggests that at the time, even though methane-containing gas hydrates -- the "ice that burns" -- occupied only a small zone of sediment under the seabed before the PETM, there could have been as much stored then as there is now.
This is a concern to those who believe the continued burning of fossil fuels by humans could someday trigger another feedback loop that disturbs the stability of methane hydrate under the ocean and in permafrost; this change could warm the atmosphere and prompt the release of large amounts of methane, a more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
Some who study the PETM blame the worldwide burning of peat, volcanic activity or a massive asteroid strike as the source of the carbon, "but there's no crater, or any soot or evidence of the burning of peat," said Gerald Dickens, a Rice professor of Earth science and an author of the study, who thinks the new paper bolsters the argument for hydrates.
[...]
..
Greenhouse Gas Index Continues to Climb
Actually, the upward trend of greenhouse gases began before the Industrial Revolution.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111109143007.htm
ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2011) — NOAA's updated Annual Greenhouse Gas Index (AGGI), which measures the direct climate influence of many greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, shows a continued steady upward trend that began with the Industrial Revolution of the 1880s.
Started in 2004, the AGGI reached 1.29 in 2010. That means the combined heating effect of long-lived greenhouse gases added to the atmosphere by human activities has increased by 29 percent since 1990, the "index" year used as a baseline for comparison. This is slightly higher than the 2009 AGGI, which was 1.27, when the combined heating effect of those additional greenhouse gases was 27 percent higher than in 1990.
"The increasing amounts of long-lived greenhouse gases in our atmosphere indicate that climate change is an issue society will be dealing with for a long time," said Jim Butler, director of the Global Monitoring Division of NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo. "Climate warming has the potential to affect most aspects of society, including water supplies, agriculture, ecosystems and economies. NOAA will continue to monitor these gases into the future to further understand the impacts on our planet."
The AGGI is analogous to the dial on an electric blanket -- that dial does not tell you exactly how hot you will get, nor does the AGGI predict a specific temperature. Yet just as turning the dial up increases the heat of an electric blanket, a rise in the AGGI means greater greenhouse warming.
NOAA scientists created the AGGI recognizing that carbon dioxide is not the only greenhouse gas affecting the balance of heat in the atmosphere. Many other long-lived gases also contribute to warming, although not currently as much as carbon dioxide.
[...]
The 2010 AGGI reflects several changes in the concentration of these gases, including:
A continued steady increase in carbon dioxide ...
A continued recent increase in methane ...
A continued steady increase in nitrous oxide ...
A continued recent drop in two chlorofluorocarbons, CFC11 and CFC12 ... (this is good)
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Tis Better to Give Than to Receive? Life Scientists Find That Giving Support Offers Health Benefits -- To the Giver
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111109152213.htm
ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2011) — Providing support to a loved one offers benefits to the giver, not just the recipient, a new brain-imaging study by UCLA life scientists reveals.
"When people talk about the ways in which social support is good for our health, they typically assume that the benefits of social support come from the support we receive from others, but it now seems likely that some of the health benefits of social support actually come from the support we provide to others," said Naomi Eisenberger, a UCLA assistant professor of psychology and the senior author of the study, published in the online edition of Psychosomatic Medicine, a peer-reviewed health psychology journal.
[...]
The life scientists found that when women gave support to their boyfriends in pain, the women showed increased activity in reward-related regions of the brain, including the ventral striatum and septal area. In addition, the more reward-related neural activity these women showed, the more connected they reported feeling with their boyfriends while providing support. Under conditions in which no support was provided, these regions showed decreased activity.
"One of these regions, the ventral striatum, is typically active in response to simple rewards like chocolate, sex and money," Eisenberger said. "The fact that support-giving also activates this region suggests that support-giving may be processed by the brain as a very basic type of rewarding experience."
[...]
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ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2011) — Providing support to a loved one offers benefits to the giver, not just the recipient, a new brain-imaging study by UCLA life scientists reveals.
"When people talk about the ways in which social support is good for our health, they typically assume that the benefits of social support come from the support we receive from others, but it now seems likely that some of the health benefits of social support actually come from the support we provide to others," said Naomi Eisenberger, a UCLA assistant professor of psychology and the senior author of the study, published in the online edition of Psychosomatic Medicine, a peer-reviewed health psychology journal.
[...]
The life scientists found that when women gave support to their boyfriends in pain, the women showed increased activity in reward-related regions of the brain, including the ventral striatum and septal area. In addition, the more reward-related neural activity these women showed, the more connected they reported feeling with their boyfriends while providing support. Under conditions in which no support was provided, these regions showed decreased activity.
"One of these regions, the ventral striatum, is typically active in response to simple rewards like chocolate, sex and money," Eisenberger said. "The fact that support-giving also activates this region suggests that support-giving may be processed by the brain as a very basic type of rewarding experience."
[...]
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Depression and Chronic Stress Accelerates Aging
That's why the Republicans are blocking efforts to improve the economy. With so many people adversely affected by the recession (including those who are overworked but afraid to object), the average life span will be reduced, so there will be less expenditures for social security
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111109093729.htm
ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2011) — People with recurrent depressions or those exposed to chronic stress exhibits shorter telomeres in white blood cells. This is shown by a research team at Umeå University in a coming issue of Biological Psychiatry.
The telomere is the outermost part of the chromosome. With increasing age, telomeres shorten, and studies have shown that oxidative stress and inflammation accelerates this shortening. On this basis it has been suggested that telomere length is a measure of biological aging, and telomere length has subsequently been linked to age-related diseases, unhealthy lifestyle, and longevity. The research team shows that shorter telomere length is associated with both recurrent depression and cortisol levels indicative of exposure to chronic stress.
[...]
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Rhino subspecies vanishing from the wild
news.yahoo.com
8 hrs ago Nov. 10, 2011
The Western Black Rhino of Africa has been declared officially extinct, and two other subspecies of rhinoceros are close to meeting the same fate, a leading conservation group said Thursday.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature said a recent reassessment of the Western Black Rhino had led it to declare the species extinct, adding that the Northern White Rhino of central Africa is now "possibly extinct" in the wild and the Javan Rhino is "probably extinct" in Vietnam, after poachers killed the last animal there in 2010.
A small but declining population of the Javan Rhino survives on the Indonesian island of Java, it added.
[...]
About a quarter of all mammals are at risk of extinction, IUCN said, adding that some species have been brought back from the brink with successful conservation programs.
[...]
..
8 hrs ago Nov. 10, 2011
The Western Black Rhino of Africa has been declared officially extinct, and two other subspecies of rhinoceros are close to meeting the same fate, a leading conservation group said Thursday.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature said a recent reassessment of the Western Black Rhino had led it to declare the species extinct, adding that the Northern White Rhino of central Africa is now "possibly extinct" in the wild and the Javan Rhino is "probably extinct" in Vietnam, after poachers killed the last animal there in 2010.
A small but declining population of the Javan Rhino survives on the Indonesian island of Java, it added.
[...]
About a quarter of all mammals are at risk of extinction, IUCN said, adding that some species have been brought back from the brink with successful conservation programs.
[...]
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Most honey sold in U.S. grocery stores not worthy of its name
http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2011/11/09/most-honey-sold-in-u-s-grocery-stores-not-worthy-of-its-name/?iref=obnetwork
November 9th, 2011
Most of the honey sold in chain stores across the country doesn't meet international quality standards for the sweet stuff, according to a Food Safety News analysis released this week.
One of the nation's leading melissopalynologists analyzed more than 60 jugs, jars and plastic bears of honey in 10 states and the District of Columbia for pollen content, Food Safety News said. He found that pollen was frequently filtered out of products labeled "honey."
"The removal of these microscopic particles from deep within a flower would make the nectar flunk the quality standards set by most of the world's food safety agencies," the report says. "Without pollen there is no way to determine whether the honey came from legitimate and safe sources."
[...]
Why does it matter where your honey comes from? An earlier Food Safety News investigation found that at least a third of all the honey consumed in the United States was likely smuggled from China and could be tainted with illegal antibiotics and heavy metals.
[...]
The Food and Drug Administration does not have a standard of identity for honey like it does for milk or other products, a spokesman said.
The lack of regulation is what enables potentially unsafe honey is able to make its way into the country, Andrew Schneider, author of the Food and Safety News report.
"Where there's no pollen, there's no way for authorities to confirm where the honey came from, so it's easy to smuggle illicit honey into the country," he said.
..
November 9th, 2011
Most of the honey sold in chain stores across the country doesn't meet international quality standards for the sweet stuff, according to a Food Safety News analysis released this week.
One of the nation's leading melissopalynologists analyzed more than 60 jugs, jars and plastic bears of honey in 10 states and the District of Columbia for pollen content, Food Safety News said. He found that pollen was frequently filtered out of products labeled "honey."
"The removal of these microscopic particles from deep within a flower would make the nectar flunk the quality standards set by most of the world's food safety agencies," the report says. "Without pollen there is no way to determine whether the honey came from legitimate and safe sources."
[...]
Why does it matter where your honey comes from? An earlier Food Safety News investigation found that at least a third of all the honey consumed in the United States was likely smuggled from China and could be tainted with illegal antibiotics and heavy metals.
[...]
The Food and Drug Administration does not have a standard of identity for honey like it does for milk or other products, a spokesman said.
The lack of regulation is what enables potentially unsafe honey is able to make its way into the country, Andrew Schneider, author of the Food and Safety News report.
"Where there's no pollen, there's no way for authorities to confirm where the honey came from, so it's easy to smuggle illicit honey into the country," he said.
..
'Fracking' chemical found in town's aquifer
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45246260/ns/us_news-environment/
By Abrahm Lustgarten
updated 46 minutes ago Nov. 10, 2011
As the country awaits results from a nationwide safety study on the natural gas drilling process of fracking, a separate government investigation into contamination in a place where residents have long complained that drilling fouled their water has turned up alarming levels of underground pollution.
A pair of environmental monitoring wells drilled deep into an aquifer in Pavillion, Wyo., contain high levels of cancer-causing compounds and at least one chemical commonly used in hydraulic fracturing, according to new water test results released yesterday by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The findings are consistent with water samples the EPA has collected from at least 42 homes in the area since 2008, when ProPublica began reporting on foul water and health concerns in Pavillion and the agency started investigating reports of contamination there.
Last year -- after warning residents not to drink or cook with the water and to ventilate their homes when they showered -- the EPA drilled the monitoring wells to get a more precise picture of the extent of the contamination.
The Pavillion area has been drilled extensively for natural gas over the last two decades and is home to hundreds of gas wells. Residents have alleged for nearly a decadethat the drilling -- and hydraulic fracturing in particular -- has caused their water to turn black and smell like gasoline. Some residents say they suffer neurological impairment, loss of smell, and nerve pain they associate with exposure to pollutants.
The gas industry -- led by the Canadian company EnCana, which owns the wells in Pavillion -- has denied that its activities are responsible for the contamination. EnCana has, however, supplied drinking water to residents.
[...]
The agency said it had not found contaminants such as nitrates and fertilizers that would have signaled that agricultural activities were to blame.
The wells also contained benzene at 50 times the level that is considered safe for people, as well as phenols -- another dangerous human carcinogen -- acetone, toluene, naphthalene and traces of diesel fuel.
The EPA said the water samples were saturated with methane gas that matched the deep layers of natural gas being drilled for energy. The gas did not match the shallower methane that the gas industry says is naturally occurring in water, a signal that the contamination was related to drilling and was less likely to have come from drilling waste spilled above ground.
[...]
..
By Abrahm Lustgarten
updated 46 minutes ago Nov. 10, 2011
As the country awaits results from a nationwide safety study on the natural gas drilling process of fracking, a separate government investigation into contamination in a place where residents have long complained that drilling fouled their water has turned up alarming levels of underground pollution.
A pair of environmental monitoring wells drilled deep into an aquifer in Pavillion, Wyo., contain high levels of cancer-causing compounds and at least one chemical commonly used in hydraulic fracturing, according to new water test results released yesterday by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The findings are consistent with water samples the EPA has collected from at least 42 homes in the area since 2008, when ProPublica began reporting on foul water and health concerns in Pavillion and the agency started investigating reports of contamination there.
Last year -- after warning residents not to drink or cook with the water and to ventilate their homes when they showered -- the EPA drilled the monitoring wells to get a more precise picture of the extent of the contamination.
The Pavillion area has been drilled extensively for natural gas over the last two decades and is home to hundreds of gas wells. Residents have alleged for nearly a decadethat the drilling -- and hydraulic fracturing in particular -- has caused their water to turn black and smell like gasoline. Some residents say they suffer neurological impairment, loss of smell, and nerve pain they associate with exposure to pollutants.
The gas industry -- led by the Canadian company EnCana, which owns the wells in Pavillion -- has denied that its activities are responsible for the contamination. EnCana has, however, supplied drinking water to residents.
[...]
The agency said it had not found contaminants such as nitrates and fertilizers that would have signaled that agricultural activities were to blame.
The wells also contained benzene at 50 times the level that is considered safe for people, as well as phenols -- another dangerous human carcinogen -- acetone, toluene, naphthalene and traces of diesel fuel.
The EPA said the water samples were saturated with methane gas that matched the deep layers of natural gas being drilled for energy. The gas did not match the shallower methane that the gas industry says is naturally occurring in water, a signal that the contamination was related to drilling and was less likely to have come from drilling waste spilled above ground.
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Slow computer
I'm on a public wi-fi that is very slow, so I probably won't be able to post much today.
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Undercover Cop At Occupy Oakland Condemns Police Brutality, Supports The Movement
I don't have a problem with undercover police monitoring situations, as long as they are not encouraging bad behaviour in order to discredit protestors, which sometimes happens.
http://thinkprogress.org/special/2011/11/10/366398/oakland-cop-supports-movement/
By Zaid Jilani on Nov 10, 2011 at 1:35 pm
Across the country, police have used undercover and/or plainsclothed police officers to monitor occupations and protests that are a part of the 99 Percent Movement. Earlier today, the Tennessean published excerpts from emails sent by the Tennessee Highway Patrol that confirmed not only that police were infiltrating Occupy Nashville but that they were hoping for the movement’s demise.
In a video released last month, Oakland Police Officer Fred Shavies was outed as one of these plainsclothed officers at Occupy Oakland. [see video at original article]
Now, in an interview with Justin Warren, Shavies said that he was just doing his job and that he actually supports the movement. He said that the police brutality that occurred could be our generation’s Birmingham — referring to the civil rights struggle in the South — and that he hopes the movement is a turning point for changing the country:
SHAVIES: I’m a police officer. I’m part of the 99 percent. [...] In the ’60s when people would protest, would gather in order to bring about change, right? Those protests were nonviolent they were peaceful assemblies. They were broken up with dogs, hoses, sticks. [...] It looks like there was a square, and police shot tear gas. That could be the photograph or the video for our generation. That’s our Birmingham. So, twenty years from now this movement could be the turning point, the tipping point, right. It’s about time your generation stood up for something. It’s about time young people are in the streets. [...] Ya’ll don’t need to throw gas canisters into a group of people occupying an intersection. [see orginal article for video of this]
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Wednesday, November 09, 2011
Turning Our Backs on the Unemployed
economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2011/11/congress-republicans-and-two-democrats-in-particular-have-not-received-anywhere-near-enough-criticism-for-this-last-wee.html
Senators, Republicans and two Democrats in particular, have not received anywhere near enough criticism for this:
Last week’s Senate decision to kill a modest $60bn bill to upgrade America’s infrastructure before it came to debate may have exceeded even that august chamber’s recent record. The package, which included $10bn in seed money for a public infrastructure bank, was blocked by every Republican and two Democrats. They objected because it would have been funded by a 0.7 per cent surtax on earnings over $1m.
[...]
The US spends just 2 per cent of its gross domestic product on infrastructure. The European Union spends twice that, and China more than four times. It is showing. ...
It's not just the crumbling infrastructure, though that that alone is enough to justify the spending -- especially at a time when interest and other costs are so low -- it's the way in which Congress has all but turned its back on the unemployed. We have an opportunity to provide employment and at the same time invest in projects that have clear net benefits. Yet politics stands in the way and millions of unemployed face a less hopeful future because of it. People who have done nothing wrong except get caught up in a recession -- people who, when they have jobs, show up every day and work hard in support of their families -- are stamped with permanent scars from long-term unemployment. They wonder when, if ever, they will find a job again (and if they do find one what type of job it will be). Yet we do nothing to help them even though meeting our great infrastructure needs could help with the unemployment crisis. Grrr.
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Senators, Republicans and two Democrats in particular, have not received anywhere near enough criticism for this:
Last week’s Senate decision to kill a modest $60bn bill to upgrade America’s infrastructure before it came to debate may have exceeded even that august chamber’s recent record. The package, which included $10bn in seed money for a public infrastructure bank, was blocked by every Republican and two Democrats. They objected because it would have been funded by a 0.7 per cent surtax on earnings over $1m.
[...]
The US spends just 2 per cent of its gross domestic product on infrastructure. The European Union spends twice that, and China more than four times. It is showing. ...
It's not just the crumbling infrastructure, though that that alone is enough to justify the spending -- especially at a time when interest and other costs are so low -- it's the way in which Congress has all but turned its back on the unemployed. We have an opportunity to provide employment and at the same time invest in projects that have clear net benefits. Yet politics stands in the way and millions of unemployed face a less hopeful future because of it. People who have done nothing wrong except get caught up in a recession -- people who, when they have jobs, show up every day and work hard in support of their families -- are stamped with permanent scars from long-term unemployment. They wonder when, if ever, they will find a job again (and if they do find one what type of job it will be). Yet we do nothing to help them even though meeting our great infrastructure needs could help with the unemployment crisis. Grrr.
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