(2 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Tonight Eastern Standard Time will begin.  Again.  And that, around here, is the dreaded beginning of horrible Winter.  This, after all, is Upstate New York.  I’m nestled against the Massachusetts border.  And the beginning of Eastern Standard Time fills me with utter dread.

What stands between me and actual, below zero winter?  First, deer hunting season.  A very few hunters, fewer by far than a decade ago, will stagger drunkenly into the woods before dawn and send the grotesquely overpopulated deer into an unparalleled panic and frenzy.  They’re already crazy because they’re in rut.  The deer will then run into the roads and into cars.  Why don’t they avoid the cars?  Two reasons: first, they think the roads are made of ice, so they’re afraid of running on them.  And second, there really is a  reason for the phrase “a deer in the headlights.”  This doesn’t begin explain why deer run into the sides of passing cars.  And it doesn’t explain why the shoulders of all of the roads are filled with deer eyes reflecting headlights and waiting for an unfortunate moment to run into the road.

Second, football.  Football around here is closely related to drinking too much. This shouldn’t surprise you.  It  wouldn’t be so bad if there were a fleet of cabs or volunteers ready to take sports fans home from wherever they are watching the games. But, well, there just aren’t.  And there’s no real demand for that.  Why is that?  People who are very drunk make very bad decisions, chief among them are (1) hitting on women 25 years younger than they are and (2) thinking they are sober enough to drive home.  The former gets you a bad reputation and potentially a punch in the nose; the latter, a criminal prosecution.  No, I can hear you wondering about this. Let me set the record straight: nobody, no “sports fan” in that condition ever “gets lucky.” Ever. Forget about  this idea.  It is a delusion.

On weekdays in winter, there are about 12 cars per day on the main road.  At night, the police greatly outnumber the drivers.  After midnight, police feed on tippling drivers- those are the only ones driving— as if the cops were lions and the drunk drivers were the Chrisitans or antelopes, or some other horned, edible animal.

The biggest problem is that in Winter it gets dark at 3 pm.  And then the sun doesn’t really come out again for three months.  This leads to chronic, widespread Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).  When the sun does shine, as it does very rarely, it’s utterly blinding, as if we had been living in a dark cave for months on end.. And because of the unremitting cold and dense dark, otherwise sane people immediately want to remove all of their clothing when the mercury hits 20 degrees and bask in the sun’s mighty rays. This is a natural reaction.  But it’s also horrifying.  My neighbors and I are by then generally pale, and pretty fat to keep warm, and we have no business parading our nakedness.  Even in front of our own mirrors.  And at 20 degrees hypothermia sets in in minutes.

I can hear you saying, “It can’t be quite that bad.”  Hah.  I can hear you saying, “There must be things to do.”  Hah. You have no idea.

We do have a public radio station to keep us company.  But it seems to have only two programs.  Prairie Home Companion, which it seems to play on a loop throughout the weekend, and Fundraising, which plays during the week.  The station tries to raise $800,000 per fund drive.  That is a huge amount of money.  And there’s also commentary.  Unfortunately, it seems there is only one commentator.  And he’s on all the time, expressing his opinion or raising money or both.  My opinion? Let me try to remember the last time any sane person asked for that.  It seems the radio station has decided to have millions of transmitters and only 3 programs.  This is a recipe for seasonal insanity, if not depression.  

The rest of it is predictable.  And unspeakably ugly.  At 25 below zero, nobody’s car will start.  When you sit on the seat, it will make a distinctive sound.  “Crunk.”  You will turn the key.  Nothing will happen.  Nothing. No click.  No lights.  Nothing.  You will then hurry inside the house, but your face will already be frozen before you get there. And when you get inside, you’ll wonder why there is no real heat inside the house either.  The answer to this is that oil is close to $3 a gallon as I write this, and headed higher.  Nobody is going to set the interior thermometers at 72 degrees. That is a temperature reserved for Arizona.

I am now watching the clock.  I know that later this evening, I will be gifted with an additional hour at the onset of Standard Time.  I wish an hour could be taken away from me, deducted from the Winter.  I’m worried.  Hunting season will come and go shortly, and football with come to an end at the Super Bowl. And then, and then there will be many, many days and nights that are so cold that possums will try to come through the cat door.  And small foxes will try to hide in the basement.  And you’ll be able to split an oak log by hitting it with a ballpeen hammer.  And it will go on like that interminably.

Tonight Winter will begin in all of its glory. I dread it.

cross posted from The Dream Antilles

College Throwball, Arizona @ Stanford or Missouri @ Texas Tech.  Some premiers.

Now don’t mistake me. I’m not advising cruelty or brutality with no purpose. My point is that cruelty with purpose is not cruelty – it’s efficiency. Then a man will never disobey once he’s watched his mate’s backbone laid bare. He’ll see the flesh jump, hear the whistle of the whip for the rest of his life.

• ABC Family– Back to the Future Part II, Back to the Future Part III
• AMC– Jeepers Creepers, Jeepers Creepers 2 x 2
• Bravo– The 40-Year-Old Virgin x 2
• Comedy– Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay
• E!– Little Miss Sunshine
• ESPN– College Throwball, Arkansas @ South Carolina
• ESPN2– More College Throwball, Texas @ Kansas State
• Food– Triple D marathon
• FX– Kung Fu Panda
• History– Weed night
• Lifetime– The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Never Been Kissed
• Oxygen– The Wedding Planner x 2
• Sci Fi– The Reaping, Messengers 2: The Scarecrow
• Speed– World of Outlaws x 2 (Instapeat)
• Style– The Dish (premier)
• TBS– Dumb & Dumber x 2
• Turner Classic– Mutiny on the Bounty (South Pacific night)
• TNT– Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Kill Bill: Vol. 2
• Toon– Flubber
• USA– Bad Boys II, Street Kings
• Vs.– College Throwball, Oregon State at UCLA

Later-

• ABC Family– Dirty Dancing
• Comedy– Strange Wilderness, Richard Pryor: Live in Concert
• Oxygen– Shall We Dance?
• Sci Fi– Hallowed Ground, The Blair Witch Project
• TBS– Mars Attacks! (thought it was funny the first time)
• Turner Classic– Pagan Love Song, The Tuttles of Tahiti
• TLC– Strange Sex marathon
• USA– House marathon
• Vs.– Semi-Pro Throwball, Mountain Lions @ Locomotives

SNL- 10/9.  Big O x 2 (penultimate and Series Finale).  GitS: SAC– Barrage, Stand Alone Complex (penultimate and Series Finale Episodes)

I’ve lived my life as a newspaper reporter. I uncover the truth and write my articles. But then I learned, all too well, that a mere reporter like myself can’t ever get to the truth in this city… it’s nearly impossible. And it’s unsure! No one here is even interested in learning the truth – a truth that must be known. But I want to know! I want to learn what must be known!

…

Even without the events of 40 years ago, I think man would still be a creature that fears the dark. He doesn’t face that fear, he averts his eyes from it and acts as if he doesn’t have any memories of his past. But, 40 years is both a short time and yet, a long time. Man’s fear has withered. And even time itself tries to wither the desire to know the truth. Is it a crime to try and learn the truth? Is it a sin to search for those things which you fear? My purpose in this world is knowledge, and the dissemination of it. And it is I who is to restore the fruits of my labor to the entire world. Fear… It is something vital to us puny creatures. The instant man stop fearing is the instant the species reaches a dead end, only to sink to pitable lows, only to sit and wait apathetically for extinction. Humans who lose the ability to think become creatures whose existance has no value. Wake up! Don’t be afraid of knowledge! Think, you humans who are split into two worlds, unless you want the gulf between humans to expand into oblivian, you must think!

You know, you get bonus points for identifying the quotes.

Zap2it TV Listings, Yahoo TV Listings

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

1 NATO probes report rogue Afghan soldier shot foreign troops

by Lynne O’Donnell, AFP

1 hr 42 mins ago

2 Pope warns of ‘aggressive’ anti-priest culture in Spain

by Francoise Kadri, AFP

34 mins ago

3 German protesters mobilise against nuclear waste train

AFP

1 hr 51 mins ago

4 APEC looks to safeguard growth, ease currency tension

by David Watkins, AFP

Sat Nov 6, 8:57 am ET

5 England taught lesson by clinical All Blacks

by Rob Woollard, AFP

1 hr 11 mins ago

6 Beale inspires Wallabies to rugby win over Wales

by Mike Brown, AFP

Sat Nov 6, 1:24 pm ET

7 Double Pakistan mosque attacks kill 72

by Lehaz Ali, AFP

Sat Nov 6, 7:14 am ET

8 Murdered politician buried in Pakistan

by Emmanuel Duparcq and Mohammed Mansoor, AFP

Sat Nov 6, 12:01 pm ET

9 Storm-battered Haiti cleans up the mess

by Clarens Renois, AFP

1 hr 39 mins ago

10 Obama unveils big deals on ‘job fair’ India visit

by Stephen Collinson, AFP

Sat Nov 6, 10:16 am ET

11 Obama says US and India united

by Stephen Collinson, AFP

Sat Nov 6, 6:22 am ET

12 NATO probes report of rogue Afghan attack on troops

by Lynne O’Donnell, AFP

Sat Nov 6, 9:13 am ET

13 China, France join forces for world monetary reform

by Roland Lloyd Parry, AFP

Sat Nov 6, 5:08 am ET

14 Spotlight on Suu Kyi as Myanmar enters new territory

By Martin Petty, Reuters

Sat Nov 6, 3:07 am ET

15 U.S. and China step back from tussle on economic policy

By Chris Buckley and Stanley White, Reuters

Sat Nov 6, 6:51 am ET

16 Obama wins India business

By Alister Bull and Patricia Zengerle, Reuters

Sat Nov 6, 9:01 am ET

17 Obama signals he may compromise on tax cuts

By Matt Spetalnick, Reuters

11 mins ago

18 Buffett derivative bet pushes Berkshire to loss

By Ben Berkowitz, Reuters

Fri Nov 5, 7:06 pm ET

19 Obama calls India creator, not poacher, of US jobs

By BEN FELLER, AP White House Correspondent

2 hrs 39 mins ago

20 Fear of volcanic ash cancels flights to Jakarta

By SARAH DiLORENZO, Associated Press

Sat Nov 6, 12:58 pm ET

21 Tomas a tropical storm after soaking Haiti

By JONATHAN M. KATZ, Associated Press

Sat Nov 6, 12:07 pm ET

22 Giant Jesus statue completed in Polish town

By VANESSA GERA, Associated Press

1 hr 5 mins ago

23 Michigan beats Illinois 67-65 in 3 OTs

By LARRY LAGE, AP Sports Writer

38 mins ago

Throwball, not Hoopies.

24 Economy recovering, but recession’s shadow is long

By RACHEL BECK and ANNE D’INNOCENZIO, AP Business Writers

Sat Nov 6, 10:53 am ET

25 Complaints that tea party hurt GOP’s Senate hopes

By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press

Sat Nov 6, 1:08 pm ET

26 Molinari stays in front of Westwood at HSBC

By DOUG FERGUSON, AP Golf Writer

Sat Nov 6, 5:22 am ET

27 Pope blasts Spain’s "aggressive" anti-church ways

By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press

Sat Nov 6, 2:17 pm ET

28 US, Australia seek to influence China’s behavior

By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press

38 mins ago

29 MSNBC suspends Olbermann for political donations

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer

Fri Nov 5, 11:06 pm ET

30 Pelosi will seek to stay as House Dem leader

By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press

Fri Nov 5, 11:30 pm ET

31 Hawaii positioned to pass same-sex civil unions

By MARK NIESSE, Associated Press

2 hrs 11 mins ago

32 WHITE HOUSE NOTEBOOK: No fallen coconuts for Obama

By NIRMALA GEORGE and BEN FELLER, Associated Press

Sat Nov 6, 12:25 pm ET

33 Scientists find damage to coral near BP well

By CAIN BURDEAU, Associated Press

Fri Nov 5, 10:52 pm ET

MILESTONES

For the first time ever in Japan, a woman who received a kidney transplant has given birth. The new mom, who is in her 40s, delivered a baby boy at Osaka University Hospital.

Ahead of next week’s APEC summit in Yokohama, a police bomb unit conducted Japan’s first-ever antiterrorism drill on a shinkansen. The exercise took place at Shin-Osaka station.

Sign of the times: a mass electronics retailer will operate a shop in Ginza for the first time when Laox opens a branch inside Matsuzakaya department store.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has unveiled a massive container ship that cuts CO2 emissions by 35 percent. The vessel uses an “air lubrication system” to reduce the “frictional resistance between the hull and seawater by running air bubbles along the bottom.”

JAXA announced that it will shift the focus of its astronaut training programs to Russia ahead of NASA’s planned retiring of its space shuttle fleet next year.

STATS

64

Percent of elementary and junior high school students who “help out with the housework,” according to a survey by the National Institution for Youth Education

51

Percent who said they help out with chores in 1998

¥200,000

Amount that the city of Mishima in Shizuoka paid a 33-year-old local resident who captured a macaque that was responsible for 118 attacks on people in the area during the past two months

34

Number of prefectures in Japan that have banned bicyclists from wearing earphones, according to a newspaper survey

UH-OH

Investment guru J. Kyle Bass, who made a mint on the US subprime collapse, said that “Japan’s economy may unravel in the next two to three years” and that “investors could make 50 to 100 times their capital betting on Japanese interest rate swaps.”

In its annual assessment of gender equality, the World Economic Forum has ranked Japan 94th out of 134 countries. That’s actually an improvement over last year, when Japan ranked 101st.

For the 13th time since it was installed in August 2001, the “peace clock” at the atomic bomb museum in Hiroshima has been set back following a test by the US of a nuclear device in September.

It was reported that workers at the Monju nuclear reactor in Fukui have made 24 unsuccessful attempts to remove a 12m-long, 3.3-ton piece of equipment that was accidentally dropped during maintenance work and became lodged in an opening in the reactor vessel.

This Logic  

Fails Me

Spitting

Mad

Death Tax?

What Death Tax?  

Tachikawa the next Akihabara for anime fans



BY NOBUYOSHI YONEZAWA THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

Tachikawa, an area in Tokyo’s western reaches, has fans of anime seeing things.

Many are flocking to see the “real” locations that inspired scenes in their favorite television animation series.

Next to the Akihabara district of central Tokyo, the area around JR Tachikawa Station is most often used for background settings in “Toaru Majutsu no Kinsho Mokuroku” (Index of a certain magic) and its spin-off, “Toaru Kagaku no Cho-denjiho” (Railgun of a certain science), both animated TV series.

Devoted fans consider Tachikawa to be a “holy ground,” snapping photos that they later post to their blogs along with descriptive comments.

Senkaku collisions video leak riles China

Tokyo probes how footage got to YouTube

By MASAMI ITO and MIZUHO AOKI

Staff writers Saturday, Nov. 6, 2010

A video apparently taken by the Japan Coast Guard of the Sept. 7 collisions between a Chinese trawler and patrol vessels off the Senkaku Islands has shown up on YouTube, prompting China to express “concern” over already strained bilateral relations.

The 44 minutes of footage, uploaded on the video-sharing website in six parts, shows the Chinese boat bumping into Japanese cutters twice while coast guard personnel can be heard repeatedly issuing warnings in Chinese and Japanese.

The government launched an investigation into how the video ended up on the Web.

Welcome to the Stars Hollow Health and Fitness weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.

Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.

[

CT Scans Can Reduce Lung Cancer Deaths, Study Finds

WASHINGTON – Annual CT scans of current and former heavy smokers reduced their risk of death from lung cancer by 20 percent, a huge government-financed study has found. Even more surprising, the scans seem to reduce the risks of death from other causes as well, suggesting that the scans could be catching other illnesses.  

The findings represent an enormous advance in cancer detection that could potentially save thousands of lives annually, although at considerable expense. Lung cancer will claim about 157,000 lives this year, more than the deaths from colorectal, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers combined. Most patients discover their disease too late for treatment, and 85 percent die from it.

No screening method had proved effective at reducing mortality from the disease. Four randomized controlled trials done during the 1970s showed that chest X-rays, while they helped catch cancers at an earlier stage, had no effect on overall death rates. Since then, researchers have suggested that CT scans – which use coordinated X-rays to provide three-dimensional views – could detect lung tumors at an even earlier stage than X-rays.

‘Spiral’ CT scans reduce smoker deaths: U.S. study

(Reuters) – Screening smokers and former smokers for lung tumors using three-dimensional X-rays reduced their risk of dying from lung cancer by 20 percent, researchers said on Thursday.

The study sponsored by the U.S. National Cancer Institute is the first to show that people can be screened for lung cancer, akin to mammograms for breast cancer and tests for colon and prostate cancer.

“Nothing has ever shown a 20 percent decrease in mortality in this disease ever before. This is huge,” said Regina Vidaver, executive director of the National Lung Cancer Partnership.

Retinal Implant Restores Some Sight to Blind

Researchers Say Implanted Microchip Allows 3 Patients to Recognize Some Shapes

Nov. 3, 2010 — Three blind patients treated with an experimental eye implant were able to see shadows and shapes after getting the device, raising hopes that a highly anticipated new approach to treating blindness may be on the horizon.

Eberhart Zrenner, MD, of Germany’s University of Tubingen Eye Hospital, says close to 30 research groups are working on retinal implants designed to restore sight to the blind; Zrenner’s study is one of only two that have been tried in humans.

Chemo Plus Radiation Prevents Bladder Cancer Return

Study Shows Benefits of Adding Chemotherapy to Radiation Therapy Nov. 2, 2010 (San Diego) — The addition of chemotherapy to radiation for the treatment of bladder cancer allowed more people to remain disease free than if they received radiation alone, British researchers report.

“By adding chemotherapy to radiation therapy, 82% of [living] patients were free of invasive bladder cancer — the most worrisome form of the disease — two years after treatment,” Nicholas James, MD, professor of clinical oncology at the University of Birmingham, England, tells WebMD.

Short Course of Radiation Fights Rectal Cancer

Study Shows Five Days of Treatment Cuts Risk of Cancer’s Return

Nov. 2, 2010 (San Diego) — A short, five-day course of radiation therapy followed by surgery more than halves the risk that cancer will come back in some people with rectal cancer, a Dutch study suggests.

End-of-Life Pain Common, Study Finds

Arthritis Is Frequent Cause of Pain at End of Life, Researchers Say

Nov. 1, 2010 — One quarter of all elderly people experience pain during the last two years of their life, and the percentage of people with pain increases to about 50% in the last four months of life.

Arthritis was the No.1 predictor of pain, according to the study, which appears in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Red meat linked to esophageal, stomach cancer risks

(Reuters Health) – Red-meat lovers may have a greater likelihood of developing certain cancers of the throat and stomach than people who limit their intake of steaks and hamburgers, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that among nearly 500,000 older U.S. adults followed for a decade, only a small number developed cancers of the esophagus or stomach. However, the risks were relatively greater among those who ate a lot of red meat, or certain compounds generated from cooking meat.

Vitamin E linked to risk of certain types of stroke

(Reuters) – People should be cautious about taking vitamin E supplements regularly because doing so can increase the risk of a certain type of stroke, an international team of scientists said on Friday.

Researchers from the United States, France and Germany reviewed existing studies of vitamin E and its effect on stroke and found that taking the vitamin increased the risk of hemorrhagic stroke, where bleeding occurs in the brain, by 22 percent, but cuts the risk of ischaemic stroke by 10 percent.

Smokeless Tobacco Rates on the Rise

Study Shows Many Smokers Are Also Using Smokeless Tobacco

Nov. 4, 2010 — Even after a generation of warnings from public health officials about the dangers of tobacco use, about 20% of Americans still smoke cigarettes, a CDC report says. The report also shows the rate of smokers who also use smokeless tobacco, such as chewing tobacco and snuff, is rising.

Using smokeless tobacco can keep the nicotine habit alive, making it even harder to quit than going cold turkey, Terry Pechacek, PhD, of the CDC, tells WebMD.

More Americans are turning to smokeless tobacco because of laws that prohibit smoking in public places such as bars, restaurants, and airplanes — and also because smokeless forms can be used in offices and on the job, Pechacek says.

The CDC report is published in the Nov. 5 edition of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

UN To Blame For Haiti Cholera? Peacekeeping Troops May Have Caused Infection, Experts Say

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Researchers should determine whether United Nations peacekeepers were the source of a deadly outbreak of cholera in Haiti, two public health experts, including a U.N. official, said Wednesday.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the strain of cholera that has killed at least 442 people the past three weeks matches strains found in South Asia. The CDC, World Health Organization and United Nations say it’s not possible to pinpoint the source and investigating further would distract from efforts to fight the disease.

But leading experts on cholera and medicine consulted by The Associated Press challenged that position, saying it is both possible and necessary to track the source to prevent future deaths.

Breast Cancer Recurrence: Younger Women at Higher Risk

Women With DCIS Under 45 Appear at Highest Risk of Having Cancer Return, Study Finds

Nov. 4, 2010 (San Diego) — A study of nearly 600 younger women with a very early stage of breast cancer suggests that women under age 45 are at higher risk of recurrence.

Canadian researchers studied women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) who were given the standard treatment of breast-conserving surgery followed by radiation, says study head Iwa Kong, MD, a clinical research fellow in radiation oncology at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center in Toronto.

Pregnancy Does Not Boost Breast Cancer Recurrence

Study Counters Concerns That Pregnancy Increases Odds of Cancer Returning

Nov.  2, 2010 (San Diego) — Despite fears to the contrary, women who get pregnant after receiving radiation treatment for early breast cancer are not at increased risk of having their cancer come back, a new study suggests.

“In fact, the risk of recurrence was lower among women who became pregnant,” says researcher Ahlam Aljizani, MD, of the Ottawa Regional Cancer Center in Canada.

HPV Vaccine: Cost-effective Way to Prevent Anal Cancer

Study Shows Benefits of HPV Vaccine in Men Who Have Sex With Men

Nov. 2, 2010 –The human papillomarvirus (HPV) shot is a cost-effective way to prevent genital warts and anal cancer in men who have sex with men. This is the finding of a new study that appears in The Lancet.

Is your laptop cooking your testicles?

(Reuters Health) – Whoever invented the ‘laptop’ probably didn’t worry too much about male reproductive health.

Turns out, unsurprisingly, that sitting with a computer on your lap will crank up the temperature of your nether regions, which could affect sperm quality.

And there is little you can do about it, according to the authors of a study out today in the journal Fertility and Sterility, short of putting your laptop on a desk.

The researchers hooked thermometers to the scrotums of 29 young men who were balancing a laptop on their knees. They found that even with a lap pad under the computer, the men’s scrotums overheated quickly.

Asthma Attacks From Allergies Send Kids to ICU

Study Shows Allergy-Induced Asthma Attacks Raise Odds of Treatment in Intensive Care Units

Nov. 2, 2010 — Children whose asthma attacks are triggered by allergic reactions are much more likely to wind up being treated in intensive care units for severe symptoms of the lung disease, a new study shows.

Researchers at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center studied data on 188 children who were admitted to the hospital for asthma attacks between July 2008 and July 2009.

Drug Improves Growth for Juvenile Arthritis Kids

Study Shows Etanercept Treats Growth Problems of Children With Juvenile Ideopathic Arthritis

Nov. 4, 2010 — Researchers have found that a drug used to treat autoimmune disorders effectively increased growth rates among children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), a disease that affects children’s joints and can stymie their growth rates.

Researchers led by Edward H. Giannini, MSc, DrPH, of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, compared three types of treatment among 594 children ages 2 to 18 with JIA. The participants received one of three treatments: etanercept, a drug used to treat autoimmune disorders sold under the brand name Enbrel; methotrexate, a drug used to treat inflammatory arthritis that is sold under the brand names Trexall or Rheumatrex; or etanercept plus methotrexate.

Tonsil surgery may not help bed wetting

(Reuters Health) – Bedwetters don’t get drier nights by having their tonsils removed, according to a small study.

Unlikely as it sounds, many doctors say the surgery, when used to help kids who have breathing trouble at night, will also stop them from wetting the bed.

But in the new study, researchers found that although many kids who had their tonsils removed — so-called tonsillectomy — had stopped wetting the bed six months later, so had kids who underwent unrelated surgeries, such as hernia repair.

Given these results, “we don’t recommend tonsillectomy as a treatment for bedwetting,” study author Dr. Carmin Kalorin, a urologist at Capital Urological Associates in North Carolina, told Reuters Health.

Walking Test May Predict Heart Surgery Risks

Study Shows Slow Walking Speed for Elderly May Predict Heart Surgery Complications

Nov. 1, 2010 — A simple walking-speed test may help predict the risk of complications for elderly people about to undergo heart surgery.

A new study shows elderly people who walk slowly, as determined by a simple gait-speed test, are three times as likely to experience complications or death following heart surgery compared to those who walk at a normal pace.

Slow walkers were also more than twice as likely to require a long hospital stay after heart surgery or be discharged to another health care facility.

Researchers say this is the first major study to test the value of gait speed — the time it takes a person to walk 5.5 yards at a comfortable pace — as a predictor of death or complications following heart surgery.

“Our study shows that the gait-speed test — sometimes referred to as a geriatric vital sign — can help clinicians identify vulnerable patients. It’s a tool that can be applied in daily practice with minimal investment,” says researcher Jonathan Afilalo, MD, MSc, of McGill University in Montreal, in a news release.

Exercise unlikely to lift depression long-term

(Reuters Health) – Exercise appears to have little long-term impact on depression, according to a new review of large studies investigating the relationship.

As long as people with depression were taking part in an exercise program, it appeared to have a small effect on their symptoms – but months after the intervention ended, they were just as depressed as people who did not participate in the exercise program.

Mediterranean diet tied to reduced weight gain

(Reuters Health) – People who follow a diet typical of the Mediterranean region might dodge the added pounds that often come with aging, hints a new Spanish study.

However, the researchers can’t be sure if it was the diet itself or related healthy behaviors that were responsible for staving off the weight.

The Mediterranean diet is generally rich in fish, fruits, vegetables, legumes and cereals, while low in red meats and dairy. Previous research has uncovered benefits for its followers, including protection from cardiovascular disease and diabetes, as well as weight loss among those who are already overweight or obese.

Juice Good for Brain

Drinking Beet Juice Increases Blood Flow to Brain and May Fight Dementia

Nov. 3, 2010 — Drinking beet juice increases blood flow to the brain in older people, a finding that suggests the dark red vegetable may fight the progression of dementia, a new study shows.

Beet roots contain high concentrations of nitrates, which are converted into nitrites by bacteria in the mouth. And nitrites help open blood vessels in the body, increasing blood flow and oxygen to places lacking in oxygen.

Previous studies have shown that nitrites – also found in high concentrations in celery, cabbage, and other leafy, green vegetables like spinach – widen blood vessels, but researchers say this was the first to find that nitrites also increase blood flow to the brain.

Being Physically Fit May Cut Risk of Colds

Study Shows Physical Activity Can Lead to Fewer Colds During Fall and Winter

Nov. 1, 2010 — People who are physically fit and active catch fewer colds, and the colds they do get are milder.

That’s the takeaway message of a new study by a team of scientists who examined 12 weeks worth of data on 1,002 adults, aged 18 to 85, who reported on their perceived fitness and their lifestyle and dietary habits.

Researchers studied the autumn and winter seasons of 2008. Study participants reported to researchers on how often they engaged in aerobic exercise and rated their fitness levels using a 10-point scoring system.

They also provided information about their diets, any stressful events they had encountered, and other lifestyle issues, all of which can affect a person’s immune system.

Schools Still Keen on Sugary Sodas

Sodas, Sugar-Sweetened Juices, and Higher-Fat Milk Compete With Healthier Options in Schools

Nov. 1, 2010 — Students’ access to sugary sodas and other high-calorie beverages in elementary schools is on the rise, despite national recommendations against them.

A new survey shows that sugary sodas, sugar-sweetened fruit juice, higher-fat milk, and other high-calorie beverages are still widely available in most elementary schools, even though the Institute of Medicine recommends that elementary schools offer only water, 100% juice (4-oz serving), and nonfat or 1% flavored or unflavored milk (8-oz serving).

“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

David Sirota: From Uprising to Hostile Takeover … and Back Again

Death Panels. Witchcraft. Birthers. Islamophobes. Tea partiers. Obama text messages. Palin robo-calls. TV commercial after TV commercial after TV commercial. And now, at the end of this $4 billion We-Didn’t-Start-the-Fire-worthy vaudeville known as the 2010 election, what do we have to show for it? That’s right, a new House speaker with the politics of Newt Gingrich and the skin complexion of a Syracuse mascot.

If after this soul-crushing extravaganza you find yourself shell-shocked, that’s understandable. If you are confused, that’s understandable, too, considering the contradictions.

A president who helped corporate interests gut the very proposals he was elected on-health care reform, Wall Street regulation and economic stimulus-was suddenly berated for being anti-business and for overreaching. An anti-Establishment/anti-corporate/anti-NAFTA/anti-government tea party ended up electing to the Senate a congressman’s son (Rand Paul), a pharmaceutical lobbyist (Dan Coats), a Bush trade representative (Rob Portman) and a corporate chieftain whose business was propped up by government grants (Ron Johnson). Meanwhile, a country that twice rejected Bush Republicans in favor of Democrats suddenly returned those same Republicans to power

Sen, Bernie Sanders: MSNBC’s Disgrace

It is outrageous that General Electric/MSNBC would suspend Keith Olbermann for exercising his constitutional rights to contribute to a candidate of his choice. This is a real threat to political discourse in America and will have a chilling impact on every commentator for MSNBC.

We live in a time when 90 percent of talk radio is dominated by right-wing extremists, when the Republican Party has its own cable network (Fox) and when progressive voices are few and far between.

At a time when the ownership of Fox news contributed millions of dollars to the Republican Party, when a number of Fox commentators are using the network as a launching pad for their presidential campaigns and are raising money right off the air, it is absolutely unacceptable that MSNBC suspended one of the most popular progressive commentators in the country.

Is Rachel Maddow or Ed Schultz next? Is this simply a ‘personality conflict’ within MSNBC or is one of America’s major corporations cracking down on a viewpoint they may not like? Whatever the answer may be, Keith Olbermann should be reinstated immediately and allowed to present his point of view.

Johann Hari: America is now officially for sale

It’s the Tea Party spirit distilled: pose as the champion of Joe America, while actually ripping him off

The laws and policies of the legislature of the United States of America are now effectively on e-Bay, for sale to the highest bidder. Are you a Wall Street boss who wants to party like it’s 2007? Are you a Big Coal baron who wants to burn, baby, burn? Are you an insurance company that wants to be able to kick sick people off your rolls? Meet John Boehner, the most powerful Republican and soon-to-be Speaker of the House. But – of course! – you already have.

Here’s an example of how you have worked together. In 1995, the House was going to finally repeal subsidies for growing tobacco, because an addictive cancer-causing drug didn’t seem like the most deserving recipient of tax-payers’ cash – until Boehner walked the floor of the House handing out checks from tobacco lobbyists to his fellow elected representatives. They changed their minds. The subsidy stayed. Explaining his check-dispensing, Boehner says: “It’s gone on here for a long time.” So get your bids in: the House is open for business.

James K. Galbraith: It Was the Banks

Bruce Bartlett says it was a failure to focus. Paul Krugman says it was a failure of nerve. Nancy Pelosi says it was the economy’s failure. Barack Obama says it was his own failure – to explain that he was, in fact, focused on the economy.

As Krugman rightly stipulates, Monday-morning quarterbacks should say exactly what different play they would have called. Paul’s answer is that the stimulus package should have been bigger. No disagreement: I was one voice calling for a much larger program back when. Yet this answer is not sufficient.

The original sin of Obama’s presidency was to assign economic policy to a closed circle of bank-friendly economists and Bush carryovers. Larry Summers. Timothy Geithner. Ben Bernanke. These men had no personal commitment to the goal of an early recovery, no stake in the Democratic Party, no interest in the larger success of Barack Obama. Their primary goal, instead, was and remains to protect their own past decisions and their own professional futures.

Dean Baker: Peter Orszag and the Drive to Cut Social Security

Peter Orszag, President Obama’s former budget director, seems determined to cut Social Security. Like most people involved in this quest he is prepared to leave the facts behind and is quick to resort to name calling.

He begins his column by telling readers:

“The budget deficit figured prominently in much of the discussion surrounding yesterday’s election.”

This is partly true since the media tend to prominently feature the views of people who discuss the budget deficit in all contexts, but it is absolutely false insofar as the implication is that the deficit was an important factor in the Democrats’ defeat. All the polls show that high unemployment was the major factor in the Democrats’ loss; the deficit was at most a minor issue.

Orszag goes on to tell readers that progressives should be happy to see Social Security reform on the agenda since:

“the key issue progressives had been concerned about – individual accounts within Social Security – has been definitively won in their favor (for now).”

It might have been helpful if Orszag had used names, since I don’t know any progressives who have this as their “key issue.” The progressives who are most visible on this issue have been concerned about a Social Security benefit that is already small by international standards being made still smaller.  . . .

Eugene Robinson: A Speaker Who Stood Out

Losing elections is an occupational hazard for politicians, so there’s no need to get all weepy about the Democratic officeholders who suddenly find themselves with more time to spend with their families. It would be more appropriate to shed a tear or two for the future of the country, what with the tea party brigade coming to town. Then again, I was pretty gloomy after the 1994 midterms and yet it turned out that the world did not actually end.

President Obama still has the ability to set the nation’s agenda-and also the power of the veto, in case of emergency. Harry Reid is still Senate majority leader-and after the way he punched and scrapped his way to victory, who wants to mess with him? As for John Boehner, he’ll soon learn that his new job requires a more extensive vocabulary than “no.”

But amid the wreckage of Tuesday’s GOP rampage, there’s one person for whom I feel awful: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She’s losing her job not because she does it poorly, but because she does it so well.

Mike Lux : The One Thing

There’s all the usual post-election palaver that happens after a Democratic loss: Republican and right-wing triumphalism, the pro-corporate wing of the Democratic party and conventional wisdom pundits arguing that Democrats should “turn to the center” (by which they mean the Washington center — cutting Social Security, doing more trade deals, not antagonizing Wall Street — as opposed to what the center is for voters), and progressives arguing that Obama should stand strong on Democratic values and not cave to the Republican agenda. There’s also a classic dynamic where some Democrats are urgently calling on people not to attack each other or the president, to try to keep the party from looking like it is in disarray, and others wanting to really engage in that old centrist versus left debate and critique.

Shamus Cooke: The Democrats Prepare to Move Right

On the eve of the Republican-dominated mid-term election, working people were told to vote Democrat to prevent a “truly dangerous” Republican party from taking power. There is an element of truth in this: the Republican Party has been sprinting to the far right for decades, to the point where they are incapable of speaking sensibly about political issues.

But in a close second place in this rightward scramble are the Democrats, who’ve spent decades racing into the arms of the corporations that dominate both political parties unchallenged.

This mad dash to the right did not stop at the midterm election; the Democrats are preparing to unleash their hidden second wind, kept from public view until after the elections.

The first step to the right occurred in the commentary over the lost elections. The Democrat’s fake analysis about why they lost will push them to “correct their mistakes.”

Contrary to all evidence or common sense, the Democrats now claim that their agenda was “too progressive” while in power, to be fixed by shifting even further to the right. In effect, the Democrats are now agreeing with the Tea Party’s analysis of the Obama Administration.

Like any political pundit, sports commentators can hardy talk about anything except the horse race, but it’s really not as complicated as they make it seem- everyone needs an “unexpected” Did Not Finish from 1 or more of their major competitors like we saw last time in Yeongam.

At the end of the season here the chances for that are substantially enhanced as Teams are collectively starting to run out of their rationed parts (Engines, Transmissions) and replacing them results in difficult to overcome grid penalties.

Two examples from Scuderia Marlboro UPC.  Alonso is running a used engine this race because of a rule that doesn’t allow him to run his last unused one.  Massa is running a new engine (his last), but parked during practice because of a transmission failure.  I have no idea whether Massa will get a penalty for that but I expect he might.

Xtrac Transmissions are falling into the same suspect category as Ferrari Powerplants and I suppose were I a better and more engaged reporter I’d bore you with the details of all the most recent technology and driver deals.  You’ll hear enough about them from the commentators because for the most part nothing has changed.  The Red Bulls are fastest with McLaren and Scuedria Marlboro evenly matched.  I will mention that it is uniformly reported that Vettel and Webber are hardly on speaking terms despite Red Bull’s assertions to the contrary.

Interlagos is hard on engines because of the many changes in elevation, especially from Turn 13 to Turn 1 which is fast, up hill, and presents one of the few overtaking opportunities.

Petrov had a crash during the 1st Practice because of a stuck F-Duct.  F-Duct enabled cars have a distinct advantage because of numerous fast sections where you want less downforce.  Softs are extremely short lived under dry track conditions, lasting only 1 or 2 laps with full fuel.  The expectation is that because of a tiny speed advantage teams that are in final Qualifying will start on Softs because they can’t change tires after the Qualifying session, but we may see some strategizing around that if someone posts a particularly fast lap.

But we could do this on Wets as rain was expected after the Practice and forecast during today’s Qualifying.

Race coverage starts tomorrow at 10:30 am.  I’ll have my race diary up at 10:15.

Because she fucks with the Villagers’ heads.

How Pelosi’s determination could hamper Obama

Dan Balz, The Washington Post

Saturday, November 6, 2010

The question is whether she has significantly complicated life for Obama as he prepares to deal with the Republican majority in the House and Senate Republicans led by someone who spent the week hurling thunderbolts at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. From outside reports, the White House was conflicted about whether it wanted her to stay or go, torn between loyalty to the speaker for all she did during the past two years and its own political needs in the wake of Tuesday’s loss.

Pelosi would be a symbol of resistance and liberal opposition to the Republicans. If Obama wants a House leader who will help draw bright lines of distinction with the new House majority, Pelosi could be exactly the right person to lead House Democrats. If he wants more room to maneuver, to make deals with Republicans as well as confront them, she might not be at all what he wants.

…

A Democrat with wide experience in the House agreed that Pelosi’s decision to stay on could cause problems for the president. “The problem for the party and the president is that Obama needs someone in Congress who can help him get things done and reposition himself,” this Democrat said. “She will be there to stoke up the left, and that’s what he doesn’t need.”

…

“A Pelosi-Clyburn team, with Steny Hoyer out, would mean a click to the left by a caucus already perceived as too liberal,” former Republican representative Vin Weber said. “I don’t think this president can triangulate against his base. If this is what happens, it will be the same as stimulus and health care. The progressive Democrats are doubling down once again.”

That is a huge risk for Obama, given what the voters seemed to be saying Tuesday. If the vote was not a clear embrace of the Republican agenda, it was at a minimum a call to check the Democrats’ impulses to keep enlarging government’s cost and reach. With Pelosi still at the helm in the House, voters may wonder what’s changed with the Democrats.

This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

November 6 is the 310th day of the year (311th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 55 days remaining until the end of the year.

On this day in 1860, Abraham Lincoln is elected the 16th President of the United States over a deeply divided Democratic Party, becoming the first Republican to win the presidency. Lincoln received only 40 percent of the popular vote but handily defeated the three other candidates: Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge, Constitutional Union candidate John Bell, and Northern Democrat Stephen Douglas, a U.S. senator for Illinois.

Lincoln received 1,866,452 votes, Douglas 1,376,957 votes, Breckinridge 849,781 votes, and Bell 588,789 votes. The electoral vote was decisive: Lincoln had 180 and his opponents added together had only 123. Turnout was 82.2%, with Lincoln winning the free Northern states. Douglas won Missouri, and split New Jersey with Lincoln. Bell won Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, and Breckinridge won the rest of the South. There were fusion tickets in which all of Lincoln’s opponents combined to form one ticket in New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, but even if the anti-Lincoln vote had been combined in every state, Lincoln still would have won a majority in the electoral college.

As Lincoln’s election became evident, secessionists made clear their intent to leave the Union. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina took the lead; by February 1, 1861, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas followed. The seven states soon declared themselves to be a sovereign nation, the Confederate States of America. The upper South (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, and Arkansas) listened to, but initially rejected, the secessionist appeal. President Buchanan and President-elect Lincoln refused to recognize the Confederacy. There were attempts at compromise, such as the Crittenden Compromise, which would have extended the Missouri Compromise line of 1820, and which some Republicans even supported. Lincoln rejected the idea, saying, “I will suffer death before I consent…to any concession or compromise which looks like buying the privilege to take possession of this government to which we have a constitutional right.”

Lincoln, however, did support the Corwin Amendment to the Constitution, which had passed in Congress and protected slavery in those states where it already existed. A few weeks before the war, he went so far as to pen a letter to every governor asking for their support in ratifying the Corwin Amendment as a means to avoid secession.

 355 – Roman Emperor Constantius II promotes his cousin Julian to the rank of Caesar, entrusting him with the government of the Prefecture of the Gauls.

1528 – Shipwrecked Spanish conquistador Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca becomes the first known European to set foot in Texas.

1632 – Thirty years war: Battle of Lutzen is fought, the Swedes are victorius but the King of Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus dies in the battle.

1789 – Pope Pius VI appoints Father John Carroll as the first Catholic bishop in the United States.

1844 – The first constitution of the Dominican Republic is adopted.

1856 – Scenes of Clerical Life, the first work of fiction by the author later known as George Eliot, is submitted for publication.

1861 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected president of the Confederate States of America.

1865 – American Civil War: CSS Shenandoah is the last Confederate combat unit to surrender after circumnavigating the globe on a cruise on which it sank or captured 37 vessels.

1869 – In New Brunswick, New Jersey, Rutgers College defeats Princeton University (then known as the College of New Jersey), 6-4, in the first official intercollegiate American football game.

1913 – Mohandas Gandhi is arrested while leading a march of Indian miners in South Africa.

1917 – World War I: Third Battle of Ypres ends: After three months of fierce fighting, Canadian forces take Passchendaele in Belgium.

1918 – The Second Polish Republic is proclaimed in Poland.

1925 – Secret agent Sidney Reilly is executed by the OGPU, the secret police of the Soviet Union.

1928 – Sweden begins a tradition of eating Gustavus Adolphus pastries to commemorate the king.

1934 – Memphis, Tennessee becomes the first major city to join the Tennessee Valley Authority.

1935 – Edwin Armstrong presents his paper “A Method of Reducing Disturbances in Radio Signaling by a System of Frequency Modulation” to the New York section of the Institute of Radio Engineers.

1935 – First flight of the Hawker Hurricane.

1935 – Parker Brothers acquires the forerunner patents for MONOPOLY from Elizabeth Magie.

1939 – World War II: Sonderaktion Krakau takes place.

1941 – World War II: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin addresses the Soviet Union for only the second time during his three-decade rule. He states that even though 350,000 troops were killed in German attacks so far, the Germans had lost 4.5 million soldiers and that Soviet victory was near.

1942 – World War II: Carlson’s patrol during the Guadalcanal Campaign begins.

1943 – World War II: the Soviet Red Army recaptures Kiev. Before withdrawing, the Germans destroy most of the city’s ancient buildings.

1944 – Plutonium is first produced at the Hanford Atomic Facility and subsequently used in the Fat Man atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.

1947 – Meet the Press makes its television debut (the show went to a weekly schedule on September 12, 1948).

1962 – Apartheid: The United Nations General Assembly passes a resolution condemning South Africa’s racist apartheid policies and calls for all UN member states to cease military and economic relations with the nation.

1963 – Vietnam War: Following the November 1 coup and execution of President Ngo Dinh Diem, coup leader General Duong Van Minh takes over leadership of South Vietnam.

1965 – Cuba and the United States formally agree to begin an airlift for Cubans who want to go to the United States. By 1971, 250,000 Cubans made use of this program.

1971 – The United States Atomic Energy Commission tests the largest U.S. underground hydrogen bomb, code-named Cannikin, on Amchitka Island in the Aleutians.

1975 – Green March begins: 300,000 unarmed Moroccans converge on the southern city of Tarfaya and wait for a signal from King Hassan II of Morocco to cross into Western Sahara.

1977 – The Kelly Barnes Dam, located above Toccoa Falls Bible College near Toccoa, Georgia, fails, killing 39.

1985 – In Colombia, leftist guerrillas of the April 19 Movement seize control of the Palace of Justice in Bogotá, eventually killing 115 people, 11 of them Supreme Court justices.

1985 – The Iran-Contra Affair: The American press reveals that U.S. President Ronald Reagan had authorized the shipment of arms to Iran.

1986 – Sumburgh disaster – A British International Helicopters Boeing 234LR Chinook crashes 2.5 miles east of Sumburgh Airport killing 45 people. It is the deadliest civilian helicopter crash on record.

1999 – Australians vote to keep the Head of the Commonwealth as their head of state in the Australian republic referendum.

2004 – An express train collides with a stationary carriage near the village of Ufton Nervet, England, killing 7 and injuring 150.

2005 – The Evansville Tornado of November 2005 kills 25 in Northwestern Kentucky and Southwestern Indiana.