Saturday, December 31, 2011

How Doctors Die

You mean this one:

I swear by Apollo the physician and Aesculapius, and Health, and All-heal, and all the gods and goddesses, that, according to my ability and judgment, I will keep this Oath and this stipulation -- to reckon him who taught me this Art equally dear to me as my parents, to share my substance with him, and relieve his necessities if required; to look upon his offspring in the same footing as my own brothers, and to teach them this art, if they shall wish to learn it, without fee or stipulation; and that by precept, lecture, and every other mode of instruction, I will impart a knowledge of the Art to my own sons, and those of my teachers, and to disciples bound by a stipulation and oath according to the law of medicine, but to none others. I will follow that system of regimen which, according to my ability and judgement, I consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous. I will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked, nor suggest any such counsel; and in like manner I will not give to a woman a pessary to produce abortion. With purity and with holiness I will pass my life and practice my Art. I will not cut persons labouring under the stone, but will leave this to be done by men who are practitioners of this work. Into whatever houses I enter, I will go into them for the benefit of the sick, and will abstain from every voluntary act of mischief and corruption; and, further, from the seduction of females or males, of freemen and slaves. Whatever, in connection with my professional service, or not in connection with it, I see or hear, in the life of men, which ought not to be spoken of abroad, I will not divulge, as reckoning that all such should be kept secret. While I continue to keep this Oath unviolated, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and the practice of the art, respected by all men, in all times. But should I trespass and violate this Oath, may the reverse be my lot.

Taken absolutely literally, it only forbids one kind of abortion. I would interpret this, in light of "I will follow that system of regimen which, according to my ability and judgement, I consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous" to mean avoiding any kind of abortion that is likely to be destructive to the patient, but that any kind that is likely to be helpful to be entirely legitimate. The requirement of being for the benefit of the patient is, IMHO, the ruling clause and all others are contextual interpretations of it.

Urological surgery, the Oath states, should be performed by a specialist. I don't see any technical problems with this -- I wouldn't want a GP to be performing it either. Surgery is best left to surgeons, as the Oath says. ("will leave this to be done by men who are practitioners of this work"). General Practitioners are not brain surgeons, heart surgeons, urologists, etc, and should indeed refer the patient to a specialist. (I don't consider surgeons to be doctors in the sense meant by the Oath. The Oath seems to make it clear that it is intended for village doctors making house-calls, or GPs in local practice, with similar but suitably-adjusted Oaths being required of those trained in highly specialized areas of medicine.)

Frankly, the Laws of England would be better served if attempts to revise or delete elements of Common Law were examined in light of the original intents of such law, and if both the Houses of Parliament and the practicing lawyers were familiar with the purpose of Alfred's Book of Dooms, the elimination of Sovereign Immunity in the Great Charter, and the reasoning behind the English Bill of Rights. Sure, nobody would want to revert to Saxon law, but the reasons for why it was what it was have changed surprisingly little. It was a careful balance of revenge, punishment and mercy, a balance a lot of modern laws don't have. We've progressed a lot in theory and can strike a much wiser balance today, but unless you start from the notion of a balance in the first place, you cannot hope to ever do so.

As for medical ethics having progressed, I must have missed that, what with a maker of structurally dangerous breast implants going on the lam. It was reported that the faults were spotted in 2000, but production stopped in 2011? The saline contamination at Stockport's Stepping Hill hospital is still untraced - the nurse who was suspected has since been cleared, but investigation is minimal. Dr Harold Shipman -- a name to strike fear into any reputable medical establishment. Started in med school, too. Yeah, I've some... doubts over this medical ethics bit. I may be being unfair -- certainly, much of the NHS loss of quality in the past couple of decades has been due to budget cuts, "reforms" and moving too much paperwork to medical practitioners. Long ago, the idea of the local doctor doing rounds in the neighborhood has been crushed to oblivion over the fetish for centralization. (Doctor's offices, once almost outlawed to the seriously sick to prevent disease spreading unnecessarily, have become disease central.)

I would consider the Oath to be more than a historical curiosity, just as I consider Florence Nightingale's admonishment for proper hygine and sterilization to be entirely relevant today, and consider Mrs. Mary Seacole's surgical notes to be more than a mere historical footnote. Had the Lady of the Lamp been listened to in modern days, AIDS prevention schemes (such as dispensing clean needles) would have been enacted far sooner, contamination due to unclean implements would be rarer, cross-contamination by superbugs would still be largely unheard-of, etc. I'm not saying to take these old texts literally, I'm not a fundamentalist, but rather their lessons are important and failure to listen to them in the modern world has never produced a good result.

SARS was stopped when people performed proper isolation of the disease. Sure, Florence Nightingale didn't talk about modern quarantine regulations. You have to extrapolate into the modern times, allowing and adjusting for more modern knowledge and more modern technologies. But she did talk about the dangers of allowing illnesses to spread uncontained - a lesson demonstrably not learned a hundred years later.

The Greeks were great at updating --- there's narry a single scientific, mathematical or philosophical text from ancient times that isn't riddled with corrections, updates, clarifications and replacements as understanding improved. They replaced entire lines of thinking wholesale when they were no longer useful. The same should be done today, certainly. But ethics should always start from first principles and never from modern sensibilities.

The same applies to the Oath itself. Much of it is sensibilities "modern" to that time. Extract the first principles from it, then derive the "correct" modern form of the Oath from those first principles and modern understandings. Modern political, social and religious thought should not enter into the equation. At all. Ever. The modern science and the ethical first principles should be the sole arbiters of what is ethical in medicine today. As I said in my prior post, society and the law should be subordinate to what is ultimately intended and the best way to achieve that. Society should never be in a position to mandate inferior standards and the law should never be in a position to impose impossible dilemmas. I don't care what the dollar/pound cost is, in any absolute sense. Economists should not dictate standards of living either. They may be able to say where the "sweet spot" is, where the benefits of the higher standards and superior care equal in value all of the benefits and superior standards achieved in consequence of it, but since they've done such a lousy job of even direct bean-counting I'd not hold my breath waiting. But ultimately, that should be advisory. One parameter amongst many. The ripple effect is not the only one to consider and not all ripples will be quantifiable anyway.

So, no, I don't consider it a red herring. I consider understanding the foundations on which the Oath is predicated to be sound, to understand prior architectures of ethical systems to be entirely reasonable, and to base a modern architecture on these pieces of knowledge to be entirely rational. Modern failures are almost invariably the consequences of ignoring past lessons, but you cannot learn from a history you don't know and you cannot know what it is you're to learn from history if you don't interpolate as needed but merely take texts as they stand, unchanging.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/urvHuKtjxEE/how-doctors-die

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Canada scores well in BMO rating in 2011, but Germany does better

The Canadian Press

OTTAWA The Bank of Montreal says Canada?s economy was the second best in the Group of Seven big industrial nations this year.

The bank says in its annual report card that only Germany, with a lower unemployment rate and a current account surplus, did better than Canada.

Italy, which is facing a major sovereign debt crisis, fared worst in the group.

The scorecard suggests the Harper government?s contention that Canada leads the G7 in economic performance is an exaggeration.

While Canada is performing better than the G7 average, Germany scores higher in four of five major categories ? jobless rate, inflation, government fiscal health and the current account balance with the rest of the world.

In the fifth category ? credit rating ? the two countries are tied with the top AAA rating.

In a separate report, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce says Canada?s economy is likely to continue to experience moderate growth in 2012. It predicts Canada?s gross domestic product will rise by 2 per cent next year, followed by a 2.6 per cent expansion in 2013 ? both numbers similar to the consensus reading of economists.

Source: http://www.thespec.com/news/business/article/646095--canada-scores-well-in-bmo-rating-in-2011-but-germany-does-better

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Friday, December 30, 2011

Gillmor Gang Live 12.28.11 (TCTV)

Gillmore Gang test patternThe Gillmor Gang ? Paul Greenberg, John Taschek, and Steve Gillmor ? are recording live at 8am PT. Recording has concluded.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/zTm6i6CnreE/

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Dazzling 'Drops' and Fireworks to Highlight New Year's Eve in Florida Keys

Each year perched in a super-sized red high heel, Sushi is lowered from the balcony of the Bourbon St. complex to ring in the new year. Photo by Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau

Each year perched in a super-sized red high heel, Sushi is lowered from the balcony of the Bourbon St. complex to ring in the new year. Photo by Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau

Evalena Worthington practices her descent from a tall ship's mast at the Schooner Wharf Bar, in advance of this year's celebration.

Evalena Worthington practices her descent from a tall ship's mast at the Schooner Wharf Bar, in advance of this year's celebration.

FLORIDA KEYS ? New Year's Eve partiers tired of cold-weather festivities such as the traditional "ball drop" in New York's Times Square can find exuberant celebrations and much warmer temperatures in the Florida Keys.

Revelry in the Upper Keys is to include fireworks displays and other inviting activities at popular Key Largo and Islamorada restaurants and resorts. In Key West, merrymakers can get the "drop" on the new year at any of three unique takes on the Times Square tradition as midnight approaches Saturday, Dec. 31.

Thousands of people are expected to gather on Key West's famed Duval Street to ring in 2012 by watching a gigantic manmade conch shell, the symbol of the Florida Keys, "drop" at Sloppy Joe's Bar, 201 Duval. Festivities are emceed by a rooftop host beginning at 10 p.m. and, as a huge clock counts down the seconds to midnight, the shell begins to descend. Live music inside Sloppy Joe's adds to the event's appeal. Visit www.sloppyjoes.com.

At the Bourbon St. Pub/New Orleans House complex, 724 Duval St., the annual celebration stars renowned female impersonator Sushi. Seconds before midnight, the elaborately gowned Sushi is to be lowered from the complex's balcony in a glittering, super-sized red high heel. Thousands typically gather to watch the "drag queen drop" and performances by female impersonators. Visit www.bourbonstpub.com.

In Key West's Historic Seaport New Year's Eve merriment salutes the island's colorful seafaring history. As midnight approaches, a pirate wench is lowered from the top of a tall ship's mast as cannons boom and the ship's pirate crew cheers her descent. Other attractions include live music, dancing and festivities at Schooner Wharf Bar, 202 William St.Visit www.schoonerwharf.com.

Blackwater Sound in Key Largo is the setting for the Upper Keys' annual New Year's Eve fireworks extravaganza. The sparkling sky display is hosted by bayside restaurants Sundowners, Se?or Frijoles, Cactus Jack's, Gus' Grille at the Marriott Key Largo Beach Resort and the Caribbean Club, all located around mile markers (MM) 103-104. Tables fill up fast, so partiers are advised to arrive early. Visit www.keylargofireworks.com.

In Islamorada, midnight fireworks on the beach are planned at Pierre's Restaurant and Morada Bay Beach Caf?, MM 81.6 bayside. Live music and cocktails available for purchase are to add to the celebration, but coolers are not allowed. In addition, reservations are being accepted for a gala dinner at Pierre's. For more information and reservations, call Pierre's at 305-664-3225.

For a casually elegant New Year's Eve celebration, Islamorada's Cheeca Lodge & Spa, MM 82 oceanside, is planning a midnight fireworks display. Known for its renowned cuisine and beachside location, Cheeca is an ideal spot for revelers and romantics to ring in 2012. For more information about dining and reservations, call 305-664-4651, ext. 4580.

The newly renovated Postcard Inn Beach Resort & Marina at Holiday Isle, Islamorada's iconic resort located at MM 84 oceanside, is offering two New Year's Eve packages for visitors, including a dinner in the Horizon Room with cocktails, champagne and dancing, or a lighter Tiki fare with hors d'oeuvres, champagne and midnight fireworks on the beach. For details and reservations, call 305-433-9935 or visit www.holidayisle.com.

Florida Keys visitor information: www.fla-keys.com or 1-800-FLA-KEYS (1-800-352-5397)
Social: Facebook ? Twitter ? YouTube

Source: http://www.fla-keys.com/news/news.cfm?sid=8216

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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Proposed Washington State Map Gives GOP Hope

Scott J. Ferrell/CQ Roll Call File Photo

Rep. Dave Reichert is one Republican who could benefit from Washington's new redistricting plan.

A bipartisan proposal for new Congressional district lines revealed today gives Washington state Republicans an opportunity to split the delegation come 2013.

Two of the four voting members of the Washington Redistricting Commission released a 10-district map that insiders believe includes one tossup district, five districts that favor Democrats and four districts that favor Republicans. Incumbents likely benefiting should the commission approve this map are Republican Reps. Dave Reichert and Jaime Herrera Beutler, whose districts get a few points better, and Democratic Rep. Rick Larsen.

The plan gives the state a majority-minority district for the first time, the 9th. The new 10th district, added in reapportionment, would be based in Olympia?s Thurston County, and the open 1st district, stretching north to Canada from the Seattle suburbs, would likely be the most competitive territory in the state for the next 10 years.

With Rep. Jay Inslee (D) vacating the 1st district to run for governor, the mapmakers had some leeway to craft the new map without putting any incumbents in totally foreign territory. Former Sen. Slade Gorton, a Republican commissioner, and attorney Tim Ceis, a Democratic commissioner, released the plan at a morning commission meeting in Olympia that was streamed live online.

The two other voting members, who have been working on state legislative lines, had not seen the plan until the meeting, so it is now under review. Three of the four commissioners must approve the map by Sunday, and the state Legislature has until Feb. 10 to make any minor changes. At that point, the map automatically becomes law.

The fact that commissioners from both parties came to an agreement is a strong indication the final map will not vary much from this proposal, but it could still change.

During today?s hearing, Gorton and Ceis both said the open and redrawn 1st district will draw plenty of attention from candidates of both parties. It?s an area that Republicans won in 2010 but that Democrats carried in 2008, according to a source familiar with the map.

?It may be the most evenly divided Congressional district in the United States of America,? Gorton said, smiling. ?It certainly is that in the state of Washington. It has no incumbent in it, and I would imagine it will have a lot of candidates.?

?That will be a very competitive district,? Ceis added. ?I believe it is a swing Democratic district. ... It will be a race to watch in 2012, there is no doubt about that.?

The new lines appear to have drawn Republican John Koster, who came close to upsetting Larsen last year and is running again in 2012, into the 1st. Businessman James Watkins is the only announced Republican candidate in the district.

The list of Democrats running in the 1st is lengthy and expected to get longer. Former Microsoft official Suzan DelBene, who lost to Reichert last year, is believed to be eyeing the district and would be a force thanks to her ability to self-fund. Already running are former two-time Congressional candidate Darcy Burner, state Sen. Steve Hobbs, state Rep. Roger Goodman, former state Rep. Laura Ruderman, activist Darshan Rauniyar and state Rep. Marko Liias, who one source said was drawn into Rep. Jim McDermott?s district.

Former Democratic Congressional candidate Denny Heck announced within minutes that he is running in the new 10th district, which includes most of Olympia?s Thurston County, much of Pierce County and Shelton in Mason County. Heck, the former state House majority leader, lost to Herrera Beutler in the open 3rd district last year.

Reichert, who has been the most vulnerable Republican in the state for several cycles, gets a few points safer with his district losing parts of King County and adding Kittitas and Chelan counties.

In a statement making his re-election bid official, Larsen touted the fact that he currently represents about 90 percent of the constituents in the redrawn 8th district.

?The newly reconfigured Second Congressional District is a straightforward solution to the reality that the district needed to shrink in population,? he said. ?I am excited to continue serving the district and run in the newly configured Second District in 2012.?

Source: http://www.rollcall.com/news/proposed_washington_state_map_gives_gop_hope-211279-1.html

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Android Ice Cream Sandwich coming to Sony Tablets

Sony Tablet S (left) and the Sony Tablet P

Sony has announced that its tablets, the Tablet S and Tablet P, will receive upgrades to Google's Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system.

The tech giant, however, isn't yet saying when Ice Cream Sandwich will hit its tablets, of which only the Tablet S is on sale.

The Tablet S, which features a tapered shape resembling a rolled-back magazine and a 9.4-inch touch screen, went on sale in September at a price of $500.

Meanwhile, the Tablet P -- a clamshell device with two 5.5-inch touchscreens and a hinge running through the middle of the displays that allows it to close on itself, screen to screen -- was announced in April but has yet to hit stores or even get a solid release date.

Both devices currently run Android 3.0 Honeycomb, but that will soon change, Sony said in a forum posting on its website, as first reported by PCMag.com.

"We're happy to confirm that an update to Android 4.0 will be available for Sony Tablet," Sony said in a statement posted to its company forums. "Details including timing will be announced in due course, so please stay tuned."

Sony also said in the forum posting that it recently released a software development kit for the dual-screen Tablet P to help aid developers looking to create apps specifically for that device.

The company has previously stated that Ice Cream Sandwich, the first version of Android designed for use on both phones and tablets, will be heading to 11 Sony Ericsson smartphones next year as well.

RELATED:

Sony Ericsson phones dropping 'Ericsson' in mid-2012

Ice Cream Sandwich coming to 11 Sony Ericsson Androids

Sony Video Unlimited hits Tablet S; more Android devices planned

-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles

Nathan Olivarez-Giles on Google+

Twitter.com/nateog

Image: Sony's Tablet S, left, and Tablet P. Credit: Sony

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/TheTechnologyBlog/~3/1QbBdc79Tzw/android-ice-cream-sandwich-coming-to-sony-tablets.html

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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

For Iowa, campaign brings more attention than money (Reuters)

DES MOINES (Reuters) ? Late on a recent Wednesday afternoon, Rick Perry walked into De Brito Baking Bistro in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, looking for its owner.

"Thank you, sir, for allowing us to come into your little bistro," the Texas governor and Republican presidential candidate said to his host, Jose Moreira. "I hope we generated a little business for you. One of our goals is to create jobs and in turn to create wealth and ... get the American economy moving again."

However much the January 3 Iowa caucuses boost the state's economy, Perry is certainly doing his part.

Desperate to give a jolt to a campaign that has struggled for traction after his poor performances in recent debates, Perry is outpacing all rivals in spending on TV ads - $2.86 million in December alone, according to the Des Moines Register. And this week, Perry's campaign is bringing in fellow Texans by the busload to tout his conservative credentials.

The caucuses that kick off the presidential nominating process can be a money-maker for a few Iowa businesses, as candidates and media flood the state for weeks of close-to-the-ground campaigning.

It's unclear how great the impact will be this year but business owners say they do know this: It's unlikely to come close to the boost they got in 2008, when Democrats and Republicans had contested caucuses here.

In 2008, the caucuses generated $25 million for the Des Moines area alone, according to Greater Des Moines Visitor and Convention Bureau.

That year, 2,500 members of the media visited the state. Iowa State University economist David Swenson estimates the candidates spent $15.5 million in Iowa then.

This time around, President Barack Obama is uncontested on the Democratic side. With only the Republicans competing, officials here say they expect less spending by campaigns and fewer members of the media to come here - roughly 1,500 by the time the causes are held.

Meanwhile, the campaigns generally have spent less time here with fewer staff members, partly a reflection of how different media strategies are coming into play this year.

Republican Newt Gingrich, for example, has had few staff members in Iowa but at one point was leading in the polls because of strong performances in nationally televised debates.

During the first nine months of 2011, Republican candidates spent $2.7 million in Iowa, less than 5 percent of the $55.8 million they spent nationwide.

Even so, some businesses in Des Moines, the state's capital and transportation hub, often manage to turn the caucuses into cash.

"It can be a real boon to local businesses," said an employee at the Village Bean Co. in Des Moines's East Village neighborhood.

Back in 2007, the Barack Obama campaign set up its headquarters next to the Baby Boomer Caf?.

"If it wasn't for the caucus and election last time I wouldn't be here today," owner Rodney Maxfield told local television station WHO-TV. Maxfield's restaurant gained renown when Obama's daughters began asking for his cookies by name.

Around the corner, the Raygun clothing store overflows with caucus-related apparel.

For $19, you can buy a T-shirt proclaiming "Corporations are people too" - a now famous comment made by candidate Mitt Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, at the Iowa State Fair this summer.

The store was packed last week as visitors finished their Christmas shopping.

A PIZZA CHAIN'S ROLE

Outside Des Moines, midwestern chain Pizza Ranch has secured its own prominent role in the presidential nominating process.

In March, The New York Times declared "The Road to the White House is Paved With Pizza" because the self-described Christian business and its 71 Iowa restaurants offer free space for candidates to meet with potential voters.

According to the Des Moines Register, Rick Santorum, a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, has popped into a Pizza Ranch 11 times during his tour of the state's 99 counties.

Michele Bachmann, a congresswoman from Minnesota, has made at least 18 visits to Pizza Ranch restaurants.

A few weeks ago, aides to Texas congressman Ron Paul told the Register they knew their candidate was surging in the Iowa polls because his crowds no longer could fit inside Pizza Ranch's dining rooms.

Despite Iowa's prominence as the first contest in presidential nominations, campaigns typically are tentative in their spending here, compared with the spending that takes place later in the process once the true contenders emerge.

During the early part of the 2008 election cycle - the third and fourth quarters of 2007 - Republican candidates spent six times as much in Virginia as they did in Iowa, according to Swenson, the Iowa State economist.

Even the millions spent on television ads in Iowa - $5 million so far this cycle, according to the Kantar Media Campaign Media Advisory Group - does not represent the true economic impact here, analysts say.

Although campaigns spend money for time on local TV stations, most of the advertising consultants and producers involved in such projects live elsewhere, so that money never really benefits Iowa.

Reporters' daily spending can give a slight bump to the local economy.

If those 1,500 members of the media spend an average of one week each in Iowa, they would generate 45 low-paying jobs for the state this year, Swenson said.

Citing Iowa's gross domestic product of $147 billion in 2010, Swenson predicts that the caucuses will contribute less than 0.01 percent of that amount to the state's economy.

Luckily, Iowa needs the business far less than other states this year. With an unemployment rate of 5.7 percent, Iowa has better jobless numbers than all but five states.

"I don't know that anybody out there can say we have a significantly greater amount of business activity as the consequence of the caucuses," Swenson said. "It's dinky."

(Editing by David Lindsey and Cynthia Osterman)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111227/pl_nm/us_usa_campaign_iowa_economy

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

China: Rotten feed behind toxin in milk

(AP)? BEIJING ? Mildewed feed given to cows caused the high levels of a cancer-causing toxin found in milk from China's biggest dairy company and a smaller one, according to a government safety agency investigating the troubled dairy industry's latest scandal.

An expert review identified the mildewed feed as the cause of the excessive levels of aflatoxin in milk from industry giant Mengniu Dairy Group and the Fujian Changfu Dairy Industry Group, the quality supervision and inspection agency said in a statement posted on its website late Monday.

The agency ordered the dairies to destroy the tainted products, and it advised the public that the contamination will end once the cows stop eating the rotten feed.

Aflatoxin is produced by a fungus that commonly grows on grain and legume crops such as peanuts, soybeans, corn and wheat. The toxin turns up in the milk of animals that eat affected crops.

Though at low doses it is not considered harmful to humans, high doses are linked to cancer, especially in the liver.

Both Mengniu and Changfu have issued public apologies. Mengniu said that the tainted products were produced at a subsidiary in Sichuan province and none had entered the market. Changfu said it recalled the affected products immediately after inspectors told the company.

While once a rarity in the Chinese diet, dairy has become a staple as incomes have risen, and the industry's booming growth has been accompanied by persistent quality issues. In the worst scandal, at least six infants died and 300,000 children were sickened in 2008 from drinking infant formula and milk products made with melamine, an industrial chemical that was being added to watered-down milk to elevate protein levels in quality tests.

Source: http://feeds.cbsnews.com/~r/CBSNewsGamecore/~3/gAzW7JSDqdg/

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Healthcare-NOW! - Fewer Americans get health insurance through job

Employer-sponsored coverage is growing more expensive and covering less.

From AMA-ASSN.org ?

Findings by the Commonwealth Fund and polling by Gallup show that fewer workers are getting health insurance, and those who have it are paying more for less.

Polling released in November by Gallup showed the smallest percentage of American adults covered by employer-sponsored health insurance since the polling organization began tracking health insurance in 2008. As of the third quarter of 2011, 44.5% of adults were covered at work. That?s down from 50% at the end of 2008.

Research by the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that advocates better health care access and quality, found that from 2003 to 2010, health insurance premiums rose by 50% on average, much faster than income. Not only did the total cost rise, but the portion employees pay rose by 63%. The research showed that the premiums bought less generous benefits, with deductibles nearly twice as high in 2010 as in 2003.

?These are workers with jobs, with coverage ? during the same time, millions more lost their jobs,? said Cathy Schoen, co-author of the report.

According to Gallup, 17.3% of the people it polled in the third quarter of 2011 said they were uninsured, down slightly compared with the second quarter, when it hit 17.4%. That was the highest level reported since Gallup began tracking health insurance in 2008.

By comparison, the most recent U.S. Census data estimated that 16.3% of the population ? 49.9 million Americans ? was uninsured in 2010.

The reports are the latest in a series of studies in recent months establishing that patients are spending more money out-of-pocket to get health care ? and, as a result, are spending as little as they can. Various studies have estimated that physician office visits have declined 8% to 17% in recent months.

The Commonwealth Fund study examined the years before the enactment of health system reform, leading to the question of whether reform can take health care costs in a different direction.

The report by the fund, a supporter of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, examined the possible savings to families if the growth rate in premiums were to decrease by just 1%. That small drop would save an average family $2,161 by 2020. A 1.5% drop in the growth rate would save $3,173 during the same period.

Schoen and Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis, PhD, said the health reform law could lower the growth in a few ways. One is that premium reviews by the Health and Human Services Dept. could make insurers more hesitant to raise prices without solid justification. HHS can?t invalidate premium hikes, but it can examine them.

Also, the Commonwealth Fund said, medical-loss-ratio minimums from 80% to 85% would mean that if insurers spend less than expected on care, they must return the excess to members. This is the first year the minimums must be applied. Coverage expansion in 2014 will eliminate some cost-shifting, which means the insured bear the cost of care for the uninsured, the fund said.

Health insurers have said the reform bill does little to control costs, which they say are driven not by their administrative costs or profits but by the underlying cost of care.

Speaking Nov. 15 at the Fall Forum hosted by the trade group America?s Health Insurance Plans, the group?s president and CEO, Karen Ignagni, said the scrutiny and transparency required under the health reform law could help insurers make their case that the underlying cost of care drives premiums higher.

Too often, she said, health care costs are equated with premiums, and government efforts to control costs stop with barring insurers from raising premiums.

She and others in the industry say elements of the reform law are likely to raise premiums. A few weeks before the Fall Forum, AHIP released research it had commissioned projecting that insurers would need to raise premiums by as much as 3.7% to cover the health insurance industry fee (AHIP calls it a ?premium tax?) that takes effect in 2014 under the reform law.

But Davis said she doubts insurers actually will increase the cost of coverage for those reasons. The coverage expansions that already have kicked in ? making adult children eligible for coverage under their parents? policies until age 26, for example ? have raised costs much more modestly than government actuaries predicted.

?When you look at large insurers, there is plenty of room for absorbing [cost],? she said. ?We could see a much more efficient insurance market in the future.?

Source: http://www.healthcare-now.org/fewer-americans-get-health-insurance-through-job/

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Monday, December 26, 2011

Apple Wins Infringement Lawsuit

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Apple Wins Infringement Lawsuit

This week the U.S. International Trade Commission came to their final ruling in one of the many Apple lawsuits regarding patent infringement by Android manufacturers. This specific case was Apple against HTC for the apparent infringement of a patent regarding how email address and phone numbers are automatically pulled from emails and text messages.

The patent infringement case was considered a win for Apple as the ITC officially ruled that HTC must now stop importing any and all offending smartphones immediately. HTC will not be fined but this is still enough of a victory to hopefully prevent future issues like this and send a message to Android and other manufacturers that infringement will not be tolerated. No word on the remainder of lawsuits on the tablet involving Apple but there are still quite a few waiting to be dealt with in the coming months.

Read the full story here

Source: http://www.applerepo.com/apple-wins-infringement-lawsuit/

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New crew arrives at International Space Station (Reuters)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) ? A Russian Soyuz capsule arrived at the International Space Station on Friday with a trio of astronauts, bringing the orbital outpost back to full staffing after a failed cargo ship launch in August disrupted flight schedules.

Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, NASA's Don Pettit and the European Space Agency's Andre Kuipers blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday for the space station, a $100 billion research complex that orbits about 240 miles above Earth.

Their two-day trip in the cramped capsule ended at 10:19 a.m. EST (1519 GMT) when the Soyuz slipped into the Earth-facing docking port on the station's Rassvet module.

The docking occurred about three hours after another botched Russian launch, the fifth this year.

An unmanned Soyuz-2 rocket carrying a Russian communications satellite lifted off from Russia's Plesetsk space center at 7:08 a.m. EST (1208 GMT), but failed to reach orbit after a third-stage engine failure.

The rocket and its payload crashed in Siberia, according to the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

There was no immediate word about whether the Soyuz-2 failure will impact upcoming launches, including a Soyuz flight slated for Wednesday to put six Globalstar mobile communications satellites into orbit.

The engine on the Soyuz-2 rocket lost Friday is different than the one used on the rocket that launches space station cargo and crews, NASA said.

"This is unlikely to have any effect on operations to the International Space Station," said NASA spokesman Joshua Buck.

The next cargo run to the space station is scheduled for launch on January 25.

At a news conference broadcast on NASA Television following the new crew's arrival, Russian space agency officials acknowledged the country's aerospace industry is in trouble.

"There are problems," Roscosmos chief Vladimir Popovkin said through a translator. "There is aging of many resources. We need to optimize everything. We need to modernize."

"It's also aging of human resources," Popovkin said. "Given the troubles we had in the '90s, quite a lot of people left and nobody came to replace them."

Russian launch troubles kept the space station short-staffed for most of the past three months.

Crew flights to the station were delayed while Russian engineers scrambled to find and fix the cause of a Progress cargo ship engine failure on August 24. The engine is virtually identical to the one used on the Russian Soyuz capsules that ferry crew.

The accident was traced to contamination or a blockage in a fuel line.

Russia beefed up its inspection and quality control systems and resumed flying on October 30.

Russian launch failures this year also claimed a long-awaited mission to return samples from the Martian moon Phobos. The 13-ton Phobos-Grunt spacecraft is expected to re-enter Earth's atmosphere between January 9 and 16.

The newly arrived crew at the space station joined station commander Dan Burbank and two cosmonauts, who have been aboard the outpost since November 16.

"It is so great to have all six crew members on board the space station," said NASA's head of human spaceflight Bill Gerstenmaier.

"This will be an exciting period for the crew. They have many activities over the next several months."

With the return to a six-member crew, the station can resume full-time science operations, including medical research, physics experiments and astronomical observations.

The crew also will begin preparations for the arrival of the first commercial cargo ship.

Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, is scheduled to launch its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule on February 7 for a trial run to the station.

The debut flight of a second U.S. supplier, Orbital Sciences Corp., is expected later in the year.

(Editing by Kevin Gray and Will Dunham)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/space/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111223/sc_nm/us_space_station

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Sunday, December 25, 2011

Community pulls together to help family devastated by fire on Christmas Eve

by Larry Seward / KHOU 11 News

khou.com

Posted on December 25, 2011 at 5:27 AM

Updated today at 5:27 AM

SPLENDORA - A family dog saved four people inside a burning home in Splendora. Now, the pet is missing and everything the family owns is gone.

However, people are doing something special to help minimize the family?s loss. Their home, built by hand in Splendora?s woods, stood for decades. Its doors opened to most anyone with need.

Its caretaker just led her third community food drive. So, when the Hendrix?s haven burned to ruins Saturday morning, people came to cry and more.

?When you care that deeply about someone, it hurts you too,? said Keith King, a friend of the family. ?It gets you in your heart. You just want to do what you can to help them. I?m 55 years old and I?m not ashamed to say it?s very emotional for me.?

?Somebody this special is not supposed to have this kind of bad stuff happen to them,? said Tony Sever, who knows Jamie Hendrix through Cub Scouts where both are den leaders.

Between 1 a.m. and 1:30 a.m. fire erupted in the Hendrix home. The family?s dog named Jackson went crazy barking. It woke Jamie Hendrix and her three children.

?I got out the door on the porch and then the breaker box was exploding right behind me,? Hendrix said. ?I didn?t know if I was going to be able to save my car behind me. (The flames) were right behind me.?

It destroyed practically everything they own, including Christmas gifts. For now, Christopher, 8, and Bryan Hendrix, 11, need shoes, shirts and pants. Carley, 15, needs the same. So does Jamie and her mother Stacey who also lived in the same house.

However, people who know Jamie through her job driving a school bus and through all the good she and her family have done in Splendora. Students at the high school organized a drive collecting clothes and money Saturday evening.

Others, like King, went to the Hendrix house also looking to help.

?We want to come together to help these people because that?s what life is about,? King said.

Investigators did not identify the fire?s cause. The family believes it started in the washing room.

Source: http://www.khou.com/news/local/Community-pulls-together-to-help-family-devastated-by-fire-on-Christmas-Eve-136201808.html

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Wednesday, December 7, 2011

2010 Carbon Dioxide Output Shows Biggest Jump Ever

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Global emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel burning jumped by 5.9 percent in 2010, upending the notion that a brief decline during the recession might persist.

Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=c89bd5de84193c9e395f9c1d9481fc42

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Sunday, December 4, 2011

Bachmann says Gingrich has 'memory challenge' (AP)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. ? Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann is pushing back after rival Newt Gingrich called her "factually challenged."

Campaigning Thursday in Florida, the congresswoman from Minnesota said both Gingrich and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney are guilty of changing positions when it's politically convenient. And she said Gingrich has a "memory challenge."

On Wednesday, the former House speaker and college professor said of Bachmann: "In the eyes of a teacher, occasionally I'd have a student who couldn't figure out where things were, or what things were, or what the right date was. When that happens, you feel sorry that they're so factually challenged."

Gingrich's criticism apparently refers to several instances in which Bachmann has flubbed some facts, such as when she said she would close the U.S. Embassy in Iran ? even though the U.S. hasn't had an embassy there for decades.

Bachmann said of Gingrich: "I think that a professor doesn't like to be challenged, but I think that his real challenge is a memory challenge."

Gingrich and Romney are at the top of some national polls in the race for the Republican nomination while Bachmann often appears in single digits.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111202/ap_on_el_pr/us_bachmann_gingrich

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Saturday, December 3, 2011

5 NC-17 movies worth checking out

The Weinstein Company

Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams star in "Blue Valentine," which started off with an NC-17 rating, but received an R on appeal.

By Dolores Barclay, The Associated Press

Is NC-17 really the kiss of death? Will the merest flash of naked flesh or the softest moan from hot, sweaty bods doom a film to celluloid purgatory? Granted, only one movie with the adults-only marker (no one under 17 admitted) has become a box-office hit ("Showgirls"), some have won critical acclaim. "Midnight Cowboy," released before NC-17 with an X rating, even won a best picture Academy Award.

With director Steve McQueen's hotly anticipated "Shame" opening this weekend with an NC-17 rating and Oscar buzz, I thought it the perfect opportunity to take a look at other NC-17 movies that are worth seeing. Believe it or not, there are more than you may think.

In chronological order:

? "Last Tango in Paris" (1972): For me, it's one of the best in the NC-17 line-up. It was originally released with an X rating, which became NC-17 when it was rereleased in 1997 after the MPAA adopted that rating in 1990 as a replacement for X, which had been co-opted by the porn industry for its triple-X fantasies. What makes it so memorable is not necessarily the "butter scene" (which spiced up chatter at many a cocktail party) but Marlon Brando's raw, powerful performance. He got an Oscar nomination for playing a tortured soul living in Paris who takes up with a random woman (Maria Schneider) for faceless sex. Their couplings are some of the most intense ever filmed. But the emotion and business Brando puts in front of the camera is amazing, particularly his excruciating breakdown at viewing his dead wife.

? "Henry and June" (1990): "Henry and June" was the first picture crowned with NC-17 for its proliferation of sex. Of course, any story about Henry Miller, whose books including "Tropic of Cancer" and "Tropic of Capricorn" were banned in the U.S. until 1961, would serve hot sex on a platter, hold the potatoes. The dude was a walking sex machine and loved writing about it: There he was, living in Paris in a three-way with wife, June, and writer Anais Nin. But what I love about the movie is its look: The photography is beautiful and lovingly handled by Philippe Rousselot, who got an Oscar nomination for cinematography.

? "Bad Lieutenant" (1992): If ever a movie earned the NC-17 tag, it's Abel Ferrara's stark study of sin and redemption ? of a cop so dirty that he makes Swamp Thing look like Mr. Clean. What renders the film so visceral and uncomfortable are not the scenes of a psycho cop plunging needles into his veins to get high or masturbating in front of two women in a car he's pulled over, or even the disturbing images of a raped nun. No. The scariest image is the full frontal of Harvey Keitel. Close your eyes. You don't want that picture stuck in your brain ? it will haunt you for years (at least until you see "The Piano," and then you'll have a flashback and scream). But there are a lot of things here that are seriously disturbing, from Keitel's drug-induced rants to the startling image of a naked nun on a hospital bed. Meanwhile, there's a wicked cool soundtrack that features Peter Yellin, Schooly-D and Johnny Ace's mournful "Pledging My Love."

? "Lust, Caution" (2007): Despite a dramatic thread and acting that often makes the film seem way over the top, there is something so touching about Ang Lee's sensual and gorgeously filmed story of romance and foreign intrigue set around World War II. The real beauty emerges in the film's mood. It got the NC-17 for the multitude of sex and I should say cornucopia, too. There is sex all over the place and in positions that defy the "Kama Sutra." But if you can sit through almost three hours of lust and a few minutes of caution, it's worth a look ? if only for Lee's artistry and Tang Wei's endurance, as an actress and, um, stunt player.

? "Blue Valentine" (2010): What were they thinking? What so offended the ratings board ? or frightened them ? that they'd slap this heartbreaking portrait of a decaying marriage with NC-17? The rating got overturned on appeal and was shown with an R, including a scene of Ryan Gosling performing oral sex on Michelle Williams. It's the moment that seems to get all the attention, just as the "butter scene" did in "Last Tango in Paris." But there's so much more to this movie that has stayed with me. As I watched it, I was painfully reminded of an old boyfriend, of falling out of love and hearing the death rattles of our dying relationship. Gosling and Williams do so much with nuance ? a look, a touch, or a reaction to a touch. The sex ? including an uncomfortable moment on a motel floor ? is less interesting than their feelings and moods. This is a movie that can really rip at you. I needed lots of hugs after seeing it.

So much sex, so few slots, but I just had to add this movie because I think you need a little balance in life: the good with the just awful.

? "Showgirls" (1995): When I screened this movie years ago, most people in the room laughed throughout, particularly at Nomi (Elizabeth Berkley), an ex-hooker, who gets murder in her eyes every time the word "prostitute" is mentioned and snaps at anyone who will listen that she's a "dancer." The movie has now become a campy confection, with its sassy stylings from Gina Gershon as Cristal, star of a topless revue, and Berkley's full-jacketed 'tude. Watch it with friends for a fun night.

Source: http://entertainment.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/01/9150065-5-nc-17-movies-worth-seeing

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Bachmann says Gingrich has 'memory challenge' (tbo)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/168776056?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Sonnen watching TUF main event closely, is he set to face the ?Mayhem?-Bisping winner?

The long-rumored Mark Munoz-Chael Sonnen tilt still hasn't been announced, so it's starting to look like a back-up plan at best.

Speaking just before the World MMA Awards show, Sonnen makes it pretty obvious, in this short video with FightHub.tv, that he's awaiting the result of the Michael Bisping-Jason Miller fight (0:32 mark) on Saturday at the Season 14 "Ultimate Fighter" Finale.

If Bisping gets by Miller and comes away healthy, Jan. 28 seems like a quick turnaround, but the Brit would have to be interested in the fight.

Who would you like to see Sonnen fight the most - Bisping, Miller or Munoz?

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Sonnen-watching-TUF-main-event-closely-is-he-se?urn=mma-wp10084

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Friday, December 2, 2011

More Minnesota school districts to borrow: survey (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? More Minnesota school districts will borrow for cash-flow purposes in the current school year after the state delayed a chunk of education aid payments, according to a survey released on Wednesday.

The St. Paul-based Association of Metropolitan School Districts, whose 42 members serve 47 percent of the state's students, found 26 of the districts were expected to borrow $382 million, up from the 15 districts that borrowed for cash-flow purposes last year.

The group said the increase was due to Minnesota's new two-year budget, which delayed 40 percent of state aid due to schools as part of a plan to address a $5 billion shortfall.

The survey also found school districts reduced budget reserves by $59 million collectively and made $61 million in budget cuts for the current school year that included more than 600 staff reductions.

(Reporting by Karen Pierog)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/education/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111130/us_nm/us_minnesota_school_borrowing

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