| |
"It's too bad stupidity isn't painful."
Volume 15, Number 31, August 1, 2010
Greetings, and thanks for joining me for another week. Starting us off are a few news stories you may have missed. First, a major American drug problem (sometimes deadly and often expensive) is patients' failure to take prescribed medications -- even to save their own lives (such as with anti-coagulants or cholesterol-regulating drugs). In recent pilot programs, compliance rates have been significantly improved -- by giving patients money ($50 to $100 a month, sometimes more) if they remember to take their drugs (is that a plan from the Democrats?). Data show that, indeed, such compliance subsidies reduce society's overall health care costs by preventing expensive hospital admissions. Beyond health care costs is the social benefit when violent schizophrenics take their meds and refrain from attacking people. [New York Times] You know, I gotta related idear – if the government gives everyone plenty of money, there’d be no need for most crime… would there, and wouldn’t that save lots of money?
Next, in a somewhat related Bit, a main purpose of the California Milk Board is to convince consumers to buy local dairy products to keep the spending in-state to help California's farmers, but the board acknowledged that its promotion campaign's advertising contract had gone to an agency in New Zealand. Said a board official: "We have a ... responsibility to spend (taxpayers') hard-earned dollars as efficiently as we can." [Los Angeles Times]
Finally, a man listed as the oldest living male in Tokyo actually died some 30 years ago, city officials said after his body was found mummified in his bed. Police visited the home of Sogen Kato at the request of ward officials updating their list of centenarians ahead of Respect for the Elderly Day (that should be every day) Kato was born July 22, 1899. Welfare officials have tried to meet Kato since earlier this year, but his family members repeatedly chased them away, saying Kato was well but didn't want to see anyone. Officials grew suspicious and sought an investigation by police, who forced their way into the house. Police said the mummified body believed to be Kato was lying in his bed, wearing underwear and pajamas, covered with a blanket. His granddaughter told investigators Kato holed up in his room about 30 years ago after declaring he wanted to be a living Buddha. They believe Kato died soon after that. Tokyo police were investigating possible crimes on suspicion Kato's family received pension money of the man and his dead wife. (azcentral.com)
Little crimes: An Ohio county has given up on replacing the often stolen signs for a rural thoroughfare named "Wildman Road." Greene County Engineer Robert Geyer in southwest Ohio explains that the signs vanish too quickly, probably to decorate bedrooms, garages and dorm rooms. He said the unusually named road is "out in the boonies," making the signs easy to swipe. Neighboring Montgomery County also has had a problem with signs disappearing from streets with interesting or amusing names, such as "Stoner Drive." But County Engineer Joseph Litvin said his office has adapted by putting replacement signs on much higher posts, making them tougher to reach. (MyWay News)
Big news: Californian actor Nick Afanasiev has been recognized for having the longest tongue in America by San Diego news station Fox 5. Afanasiev's tongue measures 3.5 inches from the middle of his closed top lip to the tip of his tongue. That leaves him just 0.36 inches short of the world record, held by Briton Stephen Taylor, reports Wenn.com. Afanasiev's tongue got him a cameo on iCarly and the actor has never looked back. The 20-year-old said: "I knew it was long, I just didn't know it was one of the longest."
Every nation has the government it deserves. I am sorry to say that I don’t think the U.S has a true national identity, and because of that, it’s like pretty much anything goes here (when everyone has all rights, no one really has any). This gets into some delicate territory, but The Islamist rulers of the Gaza Strip have ordered lingerie shops to display more modesty. A week after banning women from smoking water pipes in public places, the Hamas-run police force has told stores selling women's underwear to remove scantily-clad mannequins and any posters of racy undergarments. "These measures have stemmed from complaints and pressure by ordinary people. They have to do with upholding our traditions," a police spokesman said. Hamas leaders have repeatedly denied any intention to impose Islamic law on the Gaza Strip, home to 1.5 million Palestinians. But Hamas police have broken up a hip-hop concert in the territory and tried -- unsuccessfully -- to force women lawyers in court and female school students to wear traditional Muslim clothing, a step that drew a public backlash. Hamas's modesty moves were widely seen by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as attempts to appease more conservative Islamic factions that have accused the movement of failing to uphold Islamic Sharia law. You want a place that supports Sharia law, fine. If a place doesn’t, get lost.
Maybe there is hope after all. On the way home from a hard day's work, Ferenc Nagy often gets the urge to pop into his favorite boozer for another round of binge reading. Nagy says, "I come in, grab a book and just read into it for an hour or two, depending on how much time I have. I have a cool drink, I see a bunch of colleagues sitting around, so I join them by the table and read a bit. It's good." It is now more than three years since the manager, Peter Maurer, came up with the idea of this unique communal hybrid of a public library inside a pub, and, if customer satisfaction is any measure, the project has been a success. "We just had a lot of unused books and we kept discussing with the bartender how we should not let them go to waste and how good it would be to launch a library somewhere," said Maurer, 56, himself a former librarian. After a quick call to a fellow entrepreneur who provided the shelves, the library was launched over a weekend with about 1,000 random titles ranging from biographies from ancient Greece to modern sports encyclopedias. "We had a debate during the World Cup the other day on who had actually won the first one and we found two books that had the answer ... so the debate was decided," Maurer said (amazing what one can find in books). The rules are simple. There are no registration or borrowing fees and the library works on a bring one, take one basis, which Maurer said had proved to be a surprisingly workable policy. (Reuters) Reading is good!
Enough is enough! Presented pretty much as presented: Shenita Williams recently spoke from the heart telling a group of 50 middle school kids that speaking up about violence and crime in their neighborhood is okay. "It started on the street and ended up on my doorstep," Williams said. Williams' adopted daughter was gunned down in their home in 2009. Police say then eight-year-old Paris Whitehead got caught in the crossfire of a gang related shooting (I mean, gangs have the right to exist, right?). Williams shared Paris' story with kids from Lake Vista Recreation Center in front of the very house where Paris was killed. The children asked thoughtful questions of Williams, such as, “Would Paris forgive them?" Thirteen-year-old Demetrius Lowe asked Williams, "What is the best advice someone has given you to get through?" Lowe says violence has touched his life. His older brother was shot before he was ever born. Lowe says he hears about fighting and robberies while playing in the streets of his neighborhood. But when it comes to talking about crime, sometimes people would rather keep their mouth shut. "They are scared to be a target and I know how they feel. They keep quiet about it," he said. Lowe says he had never given thought to speaking up about brewing violence until hearing the story about Paris. Lowe said next time he hears about something bad in his neighborhood, he's taking another route. "I will definitely speak up. I will tell parents something could happen and they should watch over their son or daughter," he said. The middle school kids took a two-block symbolic walk after listening to Williams speak. They ended at a nearby garden, where the children cultivated a plot of land. The land is supposed to serve as a reminder of the lesson they learned about speaking up. (ABCNews.com) In my town, someone trashed the elementary school and has yet to be caught. Someone knows and should be telling! If someone knows and doesn’t tell, they are as guilty as the vandals themselves!
Over a seven-month period, manufacturers and distributors have reported 125 food safety issues directly to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, most concerning Salmonella or allergens, the agency said. One report prompted a recall that resulted in the removal of 177 products from the market, Michael R. Taylor, the FDA's deputy commissioner for foods, told reporters during a telephone press briefing. "We have prevented contaminated products from reaching consumers," Taylor said. The reports were sent to the Reportable Food Registry, created when Congress mandated in 2007 that manufacturers, processors, packers, and distributors report to the FDA any potentially harmful safety problems with food and animal feed. (ABC News) BTW, a quick check showed we have around 2,748,978 federal employees (1/09). Just sayin’.
Finally, a few thoughts to ponder: (1) “The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.” Benjamin Franklin. (2) “Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it.” Fyodor Dostoevsky. (3) “People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've gotten lost.” H. Jackson Browne. (4) “Indeed, man wishes to be happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible. “ St. Augustine. (5) “We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have. “ Frederick Keonig.
Later.
|
|