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Wednesday, January 18, 2006

In Centerton, Indiana a man is alive thanks to his 2 dogs.

Bill Burns was taking his nightly stroll with his dogs, Butch and Dusty, when he had a severe diabetic attack in a cornfield.

His dogs immediately reacted.

Morgan County sheriff’s Deputy, Steve Hoffman, was on a rural road just finishing with a traffic stop, when he noticed a light shining from a cornfield. “I noticed what appeared to be an illumination or a light that was flickering and facing my direction,” Hoffman said. When he got out of his car and walked to where he saw the light, he found Butch was holding a flashlight like he would a bone, in his mouth. Meanwhile, Dusty had stretched himself across Mr. Burns to try and keep him warm.

Hoffman said he then noticed that Mr. Burns was wearing a diabetic medical bracelet and immediately took him to the hospital.

Burns says that he does not remember the ordeal, but thinks that Hoffman even seeing the light is remarkable enough for him.

“It’s got to be just fate or faith, one or the other,” Burns said.

The dogs “definitely are the heroes in the story,” said Hoffman.

Burns was in the hospital nearly 4 days before he had been released.

“Had he not had the dogs with him that evening, I think the outcome would have been a lot worse,” Hoffman said.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Rick Astley is preparing for a 2010 80’s music tour. Astley will be heading a revival concert at the opening of the Open Air Theatre of Scarborough on July 31 with artists such as Boy George, Paul Young and Kid Creole and the Coconut. Other acts are Nik Kershaw, Midge Ure, Heaven 17, T’Pau, Hazel O’Connor and Toyah. All of them have scored a combined total of 70 Top Ten Hits. There will be at least four more tour dates according to Rick Astley’s website.

Additionally, Rick Astley‘s website announced last Sunday the re-release of his first two albums, Whenever You Need Somebody and Hold Me in Your Arms, in Deluxe Editions. The albums will retail for £7.99. The publishing company, Edsel Records, said that the album will feature a number of remixes of Astley, including a never-released before Hold Me in Your Arms remix called Hold Me in Your Prayers. The Deluxe albums will contain also the song When You Gonna, a song that was the first single by Astley, in collaboration with Lisa Carter. Astley’s website is promoting the albums with a competition in which, competitors have to answer a question about the British singer.

Rick Astley became famous in the eighties when his first single, Never Gonna Give You Up, achieved number one on the United Kingdom and United States charts. Subsequently he released several other successful singles including Whenever You Need Somebody, Together Forever. He retired from music in 1993, after releasing his album, Body and Soul. Astley did a comeback in 2001, with the release of Keep It Turned On, and in 2005, Portrait. In 2007, Rick Astley unexpectedly became famous on the Internet, when the rickrolling internet meme was born. In 2008 and 2009, he took part in the nostalgia tour, Here & Now, visiting countries such as the Philipines, Chile and the Dominican Republic.

Sunday, August 21, 2005

A robotic system at Stanford Medical Center was used to perform a laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery successfully with a theoretically similar rate of complications to that seen in standard operations. However, as there were only 10 people in the experimental group (and another 10 in the control group), this is not a statistically significant sample.

If this surgical procedure is as successful in large-scale studies, it may lead the way for the use of robotic surgery in even more delicate procedures, such as heart surgery. Note that this is not a fully automated system, as a human doctor controls the operation via remote control. Laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery is a treatment for obesity.

There were concerns that doctors, in the future, might only be trained in the remote control procedure. Ronald G. Latimer, M.D., of Santa Barbara, CA, warned “The fact that surgeons may have to open the patient or might actually need to revert to standard laparoscopic techniques demands that this basic training be a requirement before a robot is purchased. Robots do malfunction, so a backup system is imperative. We should not be seduced to buy this instrument to train surgeons if they are not able to do the primary operations themselves.”

There are precedents for just such a problem occurring. A previous “new technology”, the electrocardiogram (ECG), has lead to a lack of basic education on the older technology, the stethoscope. As a result, many heart conditions now go undiagnosed, especially in children and others who rarely undergo an ECG procedure.

Friday, December 7, 2007

After an investigation into the Church of Scientology (CoS), top security officials in Germany said that they consider its goals to be in conflict with the German constitution. Hamburg‘s Interior Minister Udo Nagel first brought complaints to state interior ministers in Hamburg. The German Office for the Protection of the Constitution has also been monitoring the group, fearing they may gain control in German elections. In official reports, the government agency has said “There is substantial evidence that the Scientology organization is involved in activities directed against the free democratic order.” Nagel has been building support among other interior ministers.

Berlin‘s Interior Minister, Senator Erhart Koerting, presided over a two-day conference on the issue with the interior ministers of all of Germany’s 16 states. Federal Interior Minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, also attended. The German government does not believe Scientology is a religion, but instead treats it as a commercial enterprise, and states that it takes advantage of its members. The government taxes the CoS and its sister organizations as businesses in the country.

The interior ministers will ask Germany’s domestic intelligence agency to determine what will be necessary in order to ban the CoS in Germany. The organization has been under investigation by the German government for over a decade, under allegations that it “threatens the peaceful democratic order.”

Scientologists have said that the investigation is a violation of their freedom of religion, and the United States Department of State has criticized Germany in its Human Rights Reports in previous years. Sabine Weber, a representative of Scientology in Germany, called the actions to ban Scientology “more than incomprehensible.”

This past summer, Germany had initially refused producers of a film starring Scientologist Tom Cruise to film at key sites. Cruise was later able to shoot his film in certain restricted areas.

Wednesday, September 6, 2006

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), in the September 2006 issue of its journal Pediatrics, supports the use of dairy by lactose intolerant children.

Dr. Melvin B. Heyman, author of the article, says that just because a child is lactose intolerant, does not mean that they should avoid dairy altogether. Many lactose intolerant people can consume small amounts of dairy.

Heyman says that dairy consumption is important, especially for children, because of its high calcium content. The calcium is, in turn, important for stengthening growing bones. “If dairy products are eliminated,” the article says, “other dietary sources of calcium or calcium supplements need to be provided.”

Lactose intolerance is a condition, present in the majority of human population above the age of infancy, due to which the body cannot tolerate lactose, a sugar present in milk and other dairy products. Lactose intolerance causes a range of unpleasant abdominal symptoms, including stomach cramps, bloating, flatulence and diarrhea.

As lactose intolerance is inherent, its prevalence varies by ethnic group. For example, while only 12% of American Caucasians have it, its prevalence is 75% among African Americans, 93% among Chinese, 60%-80% among Ashkenazi Jews,and 100% among American Indians. Many people do not realize that they have this condition simply because they have eaten dairy all their lives and view the symptoms of lactose intolerance as “normal”.

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) has long stated that the risks of consuming dairy far outweigh the benefits. According to PRCM’s fact sheet, called “Parents’ Guide to Building Better Bones”, there are many healthy ways of getting enough calcium and promoting bone health. Many foods contain calcium, not just dairy. Also, it is important to consider the amount of calcium absorbed, not just the amount of calcium present in a food. For example, more than three times as much calcium is absorbed from one serving of Total Plus cereal as from one serving of 2% milk.

PCRM promotes a strictly vegetarian diet. Despite its name, it claims only 5 percent of its members as physicians. PCRM has also been accused of having links with animal rights “extremists”, in particular Jerry Vlasak, a former PCRM spokesman who called for the murder of scientists who use animals in research.

The report in News-Medical.Net says that Ann Marie Krautheim, with the National Dairy Council, a dairy lobbying group, says

she hopes the report will educate parents on how to continue to include dairy in the diets of children sensitive to lactose and also help improve their nutrient intake. Krautheim says calcium-fortified beverages and other foods which seek to provide an alternative source of calcium, do not provide an equivalent nutrient package to dairy foods such as milk, cheese and yogurt.

This last statement, however, that dairy products are superior to calcium-fortified foods, is not supported by the article in Pediatrics.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

US bank Goldman Sachs has been accused of fraud by the American regulator Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

According to the SEC, Goldman Sachs failed to inform investors of a conflict of interest in the banks’ marketing of sub-prime mortgage investments, which were being sold at a time of uncertainty in the US housing market. The SEC says that a Goldman subsidiary, Paulson & Co, had been involved in the selection of securities included in the mortgage investments. It had not been disclosed to investors that Paulson had bet that the value of the investments would fall, benefiting Paulson but not those who bought the investments.

The securities, which were combined into a package called Abacus that was sold to investors, lost over $1 billion during the collapse of the US housing industry. According to the SEC, Goldman, Paulson, and the creator of Abacus, a vice-president of Goldman Sachs named Fabrice Tourre, all knew that the housing market was going to collapse, but continued to sell Abacus despite the risks.

Tourre had been in command of selecting the investments within Abacus, and then was the person responsible for selling it to investors. He had told those who invested in Abacus that its components had been selected by an independent party, ACA Management.

In all, 99% of the investments within Abacus were downgraded, and investors lost upwards of a billion US dollars.

The SEC alleged that “Goldman Sachs arranged a transaction at Paulson’s request in which Paulson heavily influenced the selection of the portfolio to suit its economic interests.” In a short response from Goldman, the bank said that “The SEC’s charges are completely unfounded in law and fact and we will vigorously contest them and defend the firm and its reputation.”

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Mainstream rock singer Brian Melo has been crowned winner of Canadian Idol 2007 (Season five). The 25-year old Hamilton, Ontario native sang in front of an audience at the Air Canada Place in Toronto, Ontario. The show was two-hours.

Seventeen year old Johnny Cash and Elvis-inspired country singer Jaydee Bixby of Drumheller, Alberta finished in second.

The Canadian Idol Top 10 started off the show last night singing Jon Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love a Bad Name”.

The top 10, and a duet with the top two, did several performances throughout the show.

Canadian-International pop-rock singer Avril Lavigne performed “Hot” and “When You’re Gone” from her third new album the “Best Damn Thing”.

Season four winner of Canadian Idol, Eva Avila performed her song “Fallin’ For You”. Melo and Bixby presented her with gold and platinum disk awards for her debut single “Meant To Fly” and her debut album “Somewhere Else”.

Country-rock singer Jon Bon Jovi, who mentored the singers for Monday’s performances, sang their new song “Lost Highway” and 2000 song “It’s My Life”.

Canadian Idol allowed auditioners, their top 22, and top 10 to perform with instruments this year. No other Idol shows have allowed this. Top ten competitors Greg Neufeld sang and performed with his guitar and Dwight d’Eon sang and performed with his electrical guitar, with the top 10 last night.

Canadian Idol’s official top 3 competitors, including top three’s eliminated Carly Rae Jepson from Mission, British Columbia, are set to have an “Idol Winner’s” tour across 15 Canadian cities this fall. The tour will start November 18, 2007 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. They are expected to tour cities in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia. It finishes with a final show in Edmonton, Alberta on December 12, 2007.

It’s the first tour the show has ever done.

Melo, the winner, was a construction worker in Hamilton. He auditioned at the nearby Toronto auditions.

At the beginning of the season Bixby and Melo appeared as stiff performers but changed drastically throughout the weeks. Melo was in the bottom three, three times.

“Just remember that you are so privileged and enjoy every minute but you never know how long it’s going to last,” Avila said before the winner was announced by host Ben Mulroney.

An estimated five million votes were cast following Monday’s performances.

Local Hamiltonians gathered last night at Hamilton Place Theatre. Approximately 2,000 fans were there. Most people and fans from, or around, the town of Drumheller gathered in a local hockey rink to show their support for Bixby.

Melo’s new single “All I Ever Wanted” will be released on radio’s and online music stores through Sony BMG Music Canada at 12:00am on September 13, 2007. His debut album will be out this winter.

“I want to grow and get better with each album. I want to be an international star, I’m thinking of big things. I want to hit the American market, I want to hit the European market as much as I can,” Melo said.

Melo says he will go the full way and write songs for his album. He also said he has planned dates to meet with songwriters for some input on what he’ll write.

“But being in this process, there’s been so many songwriters, so many great musicians that haven’t gotten the credit . . . that they deserve. So hopefully I’ll be able to change that,” Melo said.

“‘Keep positive, keep on the positive side of things’,” Bixby said. “And you know, there’s nothing negative about coming in second in a national audition, so I’m very happy. I’m glad I made my parents proud.”

“I didn’t think a year ago that I would be standing here. If it wasn’t for the fans, my friends, my family and everyone in the Hammer… (Hamilton) It’s been amazing,” said Melo.