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. 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.

Cottage cheese is an excellent, low-calorie source of protein – a half-cup of 1 percent low-fat cottage cheese has 14 grams of protein and only 82 calories. But unlike other dairy products, it isn’t an excellent source of calcium; much of that nutrient goes out with the whey during the curding process.

Eat Less Red Meat, Cut Heart Attack Risk

Cutting Back on Red or Processed Meats Reduces Risk of Heart Disease in Women, Study Finds

Cutting back on red and processed meats may significantly reduce heart disease risk in women, a new study says.

Scientists examined data on 84,136 women between the ages of 30 and 55 over a 26-year period ending in 2006. The women were participants in a research project known as the Nurses’ Health Study. Researchers examined medical histories and lifestyle choices of the women, including dietary habits obtained via detailed questionnaires.

This study differs from previous analyses in that the follow-up period was long, repeated dietary questionnaires were administered over the course of the study, and the impact of substituting protein alternatives in place of red meat was evaluated.

Health risks higher among blacks who donate kidney

(Reuters) – Blacks who donate one of their kidneys have a higher risk of high blood pressure, diabetes and kidney disease compared to white donors, doctors reported on Wednesday.

The findings in the New England Journal of Medicine mean doctors need to pay more attention to the health of donors, said the team, led by Dr. Krista Lentine of the Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

“We are not proposing any change to donor selection policy based on these data, and do not believe that race and ethnicity should be used to discourage anyone from stepping forward for potential donor evaluation,” she said in a e-mail.

Kidneys from cardiac victims good for donation: study

(Reuters) – Kidneys transplanted from victims of heart attacks and other cardiac deaths are just as good as those from brain-dead patients and could offer a valuable extra source of donor organs, British scientists said Thursday.

The researchers said fears that kidneys from heart death victims may be inferior for transplants are unfounded and they should be treated as equal to kidneys from brain-dead donors.

“The shortage of donor organs remains one of the key challenges faced by the international transplant community,” said Andrew Bradley of Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, who led the study. “In view of our findings, cardiac-death donors represent an extremely important and overlooked source of high-quality donor kidneys.”http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67I17B20100819

Genetic signature may lead to better TB diagnosis

(Reuters) – Scientists have found a “genetic signature” in the blood of patients with active tuberculosis (TB) and believe their discovery could help develop better diagnostic tests for the disease, as well as better treatments.

More than 2 billion people, or a third of the world’s population, are estimated to be infected with the organism Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) which causes TB, but the vast majority have the infection in latent form and have no symptoms.

The British scientists said they had now found a pattern of genes in the blood which is specific to up to 10 percent of those 2 billion people who develop active TB in their lungs.

Ancient brew may reduce gut damage after chemotherapy

(Reuters) – An ancient Chinese brew may help reduce the intestinal damage caused by chemotherapy given to colon and rectal cancer patients, researchers said on Thursday.

To meet growing consumer demands, researchers in the field of traditional medicine are trying to prove the efficacy of ancient drugs using Western-style animal tests and human clinical trials.

In a paper published in Science Translational Medicine, the researchers said they fed cancerous mice the Chinese brew after the rodents had been treated with irinotecan, a chemotherapy drug known to be toxic for the gut and a cause of diarrhea.

Coating Kills MRSA Germs

Study: New Coating for Hospital Walls, Surgical Equipment, Other Surfaces Kills MRSA

Aug. 17, 2010 — Biotech scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a coating for use in health care settings that they say kills the deadly MRSA germ.

MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphyloccus aureus, is a virulent bacterium that causes antibiotic-resistant infections, killing about 90,000 patients a year. Because it has been hard to battle, it is sometimes called a “superbug.”

But Rensselaer scientists say their coating, for use on surgical equipment, hospital walls, and other surfaces in health care settings, seems to be very effective in eradicating MRSA.

The study is published in ACS Nano, a journal of the American Chemical Society

Concussions Linked to Condition Similar to ALS

Study Shows Repeated Head Traumas May Raise Risk of Symptoms Seen in Lou Gehrig’s Disease

Aug. 17, 2010 — Repetitive head traumas and concussions, including the type sustained by many professional football players, may increase risk for developing a motor neuron disease that looks and acts a lot like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s disease. The disease is calledchronic traumatic encephalopathy.

The new findings appear in the September issue of the Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology.

Tai Chi: Best Fibromyalgia Treatment?

Study Shows Fibromyalgia Symptoms Much Better After 12 Weeks of Tai Chi

Aug. 18, 2010 — Just 12 weeks of tai chi — the slow-motion Chinese martial art — relieved longstanding fibromyalgia symptoms and improved quality of life in a clinical trial.

Compared with patients who received wellness education and stretching exercises, those who practiced tai chi saw their fibromyalgia become much less severe. They also slept better, felt better, had less pain, had more energy, and had better physical and mental health, says study researcher Chenchen Wang, MD, of Tufts University School of Medicine.

Hepatitis B Drug Fights Liver Fibrosis, Cirrhosis

Study Shows Entecavir Is an Effective, Long-Term Treatment

Aug. 18, 2010 — A new generation of antiviral drugs can help reverse liver fibrosis and even early cirrhosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, and they continue to work for many years, new research suggests.

In a newly published study, 88% of previously untreated patients who took the drug entecavir for an average of six years continued to show reductions in liver injury, as measured by fibrosis and cirrhosis.

Cancer Patients Live Longer With Palliative Care

Study Also Shows Palliative Care Improves Quality of Life for Advanced Lung Cancer Patients

Aug. 18, 2010 — Offering palliative care, including pain management and counseling services, soon after diagnosis can help people with advanced lung cancer live longer and with a better quality of life, a study shows.

The study is published in the Aug. 19 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Study Unlocks Mystery of Nickel Allergy

Discovery of How Nickel Causes an Allergic Reaction Could Lead to New Treatments

Aug. 16, 2010 — Scientists in Germany have found the biological mechanisms behind nickel allergy, a common cause of contact allergic dermatitis that causes itching, burning, and redness.

Researchers used mice to show how nickel induces an immune system response. Nickel binds to a protein called toll-like receptor 4 or TLR4, which signals the immune system to initiate an inflammatory response.

TLR4, the researchers report, could potentially serve as a molecular target for blocking an allergic reaction to nickel. Their findings are reported in this week’s issue of Nature Immunology.

Study: Anger Can Harm the Heart

People Who Are More Aggressive Face a Greater Risk for Heart Attack and Stroke

Aug. 16, 2010 — Personality type and the ability to control anger may have an effect on heart health and one’s risk for stroke, according to a new study published in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Researchers from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) in Baltimore, a division of the National Institutes of Health, found that people who are angry and aggressive showed a greater thickness of the carotid arteries in the neck, a key risk factor for heart attack or stroke, compared with people who were more easygoing.

Patterns in serious in-flight medical emergencies

(Reuters Health) – Medical emergencies on commercial airplanes are not common, but certain passengers — including the elderly and pregnant women — face greater risks of complications requiring flight diversions, a study of one airline finds.

Researchers determined that over five years, one large Hong Kong-based airline logged 4,068 in-flight medical emergencies among paying passengers. That translated to a rate of about 12 emergencies per “billion revenue passenger kilometers” — or the rate per paying passenger per billion kilometers traveled.

Medical emergencies requiring a flight diversion were much less common, at 46 over five years. Thirty passengers ultimately died, with heart attacks and other cardiac complications accounting for two-thirds of those deaths.

In Japan, bystander CPR often not so helpful

(Reuters Health) – A nationwide study from Japan  shows chest compressions did little to help people who’d collapsed but didn’t have underlying heart disease, such as those who had drowned or suffocated.

Only 1.5 percent survived a month or more without crippling brain damage, even though bystanders had pumped on their chests to keep blood flowing. That number was statistically indistinguishable from cases in which no one had performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

But according to the Japanese researchers, led by Taku Iwami of the Kyoto University Health Service, there may still be a role for rescue breathing, even if it’s tiny.

Since 2008, U.S. guidelines have recommended that people without special training stick to chest compressions during CPR, and skip the rescue breathing.

That’s because more and more studies suggest mouth-to-mouth rescue doesn’t improve survival when heart disease causes the ticker to stop. (See Reuters Health story of July 28, 2010.)

Painkiller use linked to stroke risk

(Reuters Health) – Common painkillers that have been linked to an increased risk of heart attack may also elevate risk of stroke, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that among nearly 38,000 Taiwanese adults who suffered a stroke over one year, the use of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) in the prior month may have elevated their stroke risk.

The increases linked to individual NSAIDs were generally modest, the investigators report in the medical journal Stroke. And the findings do not prove that the medications themselves led to some people’s strokes.

Egg Recall Expands; CDC Expects More Illnesses

FDA Activates Emergency Command Center; ‘Extensive’ Investigation Under Way

Aug. 19, 2010 — As the nationwide egg recall expands, the FDA has activated its emergency command center to direct its “extensive” investigation.

So far, some 380 million eggs have been recalled — a number that is “evolving,” Sherri McGarry, emergency coordinator for the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said today at a joint FDA/CDC news teleconference.

“We would certainly characterize this as one of the largest shell egg recalls in recent history,” McGarry said.

Through July 17, the CDC has received some 2,000 reports of illness due to Salmonella Enteritidis, the bacteria causing the outbreak. That’s nearly three times more salmonella illness than is usually seen in late summer, says Christopher R. Braden, MD, acting director of the CDC division responsible for food-borne illness.

Salmonella Outbreaks Spur Nationwide Egg Recall

Outbreak Traced to Supplier for Major Groceries, Restaurants

Aug. 19, 2010 — Eggs are behind a nationwide salmonella outbreak that caused hundreds of illnesses each week in June and July.

The nationwide egg recall has expanded to include eggs made from five plants owned by Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa. It now involves more than a dozen major brands that got eggs from this company. The New York Times reports that the recall now includes 380 million eggs.

Eggs were traced to the company after the CDC noticed a four-fold increase in Salmonella Enteritidis isolates from people suffering food poisoning. State investigators in California, Colorado, and Minnesota found clusters of illness from this salmonella strain among people who ate eggs at the same restaurants. Those restaurants got eggs that came from Wright County Egg.

Scientists See Serious Health Risks in Gulf Oil Spill

Respiratory, Mental Health Problems Among the Dangers From Exposure to Oil

Aug. 16, 2010 — The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico poses serious health risks for the people who are working to clean it up and others who venture into the coastal area, scientists say in a commentary in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Some components of oil called volatile organic compounds may cause respiratory irritation and nervous system disorders, according to the commentary by Gina M. Solomon, MD, MPH, and Sarah Janssen, MD, PhD, MPH, both of the University of California, San Francisco.

Nigeria battles cholera, measles outbreaks

ABUJA (Reuters) – A cholera outbreak in northeastern Nigeria has killed 231 people this year across 11 states and infected more than 4,500 others, the country’s chief epidemiologist said Friday.

Neighboring Cameroon has been suffering its worst epidemic of cholera, a disease generally spread through food and water contaminated with bacteria, since 2004 and there had been fears that the outbreak could spread into Nigeria and Chad.

“Recent cases are mainly from the northeastern part of the country,” said Dr Henry Akpan, head of epidemiology in Nigeria’s ministry of health, adding that 4,665 cases had been recorded in Africa’s most populous nation since January.

U.S. tries to fix slow response to outbreaks

(Reuters) – The U.S. government proposed major changes on Thursday to the way it works with companies to fight new disease threats such as flu, including reform at the Food and Drug Administration and setting up centers to make vaccines quickly.

The report from the Health and Human Services Department said the U.S. ability to respond to new outbreaks is far too slow and it lays out a plan for helping researchers and biotechnology companies develop promising new drugs and vaccines.

“The closer we looked … the more leaks, choke points and dead ends we saw,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said at a news briefing.

“At a moment when the greatest danger we face may be a virus we have never seen before … we don’t have the flexibility to adapt,” she added. “We saw that we needed better coordination not just within our department but across government.”

Hormone replacement may not save women’s muscle

(Reuters Health) – Despite some earlier evidence that hormone replacement therapy after menopause can help maintain women’s muscle mass, a new study suggests that any such benefit does not last.

That women’s muscle mass declines after menopause has long been known, and researchers have speculated that waning estrogen levels may play a role — raising the question of whether hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can help preserve older women’s muscle mass.

Results from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), a large U.S. clinical trial looking at a variety of health effects of HRT, found that women who used hormones for three years maintained somewhat more muscle mass than those who had been given a placebo for comparison.

Smoking not tied to risk of early breast tumor

(Reuters Health) – Current and former smokers may have no higher risk of developing an early form of breast tumor after menopause than non-smokers do, a new study suggests.

Cigarette smoking has been clearly linked to increased risks of a number of cancers, including cancers of the lungs, colon, pancreas and bladder. But studies have yielded conflicting results as to whether smoking may boost a woman’s odds of developing breast cancer.

The new study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, looked at the relationship between smoking and the risk of ductal carcinoma in-situ, or DCIS — abnormal cells in the milk ducts of the breast that can progress to cancer that invades the breast tissue.

Study: Diet Sodas May Raise Risk of Preterm Delivery

Researchers See Possible Risks in Drinking Diet Soft Drinks During Pregnancy

Aug. 20, 2010 — Pregnant  women who drink artificially sweetened carbonated and noncarbonated soft drinks may be at increased risk for preterm delivery, a study shows.

But a spokeswoman for a beverage trade group says the study doesn’t demonstrate cause and effect and unnecessarily alarms pregnant women. And the researchers themselves say more study is needed before firm conclusions can be reached.

The study is published in the September issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Depo Provera tied to small rise in fracture risk

(Reuters Health) – Women who use a certain type of long-acting hormonal contraceptive are at a slightly increased risk of broken bones, new research suggests.

More than 9 million women worldwide use Depo Provera, an injection of progesterone given every three months, Dr. Christoph R. Meier of University Hospital Basel in Switzerland and his colleagues explain in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. Some evidence has suggested that the contraceptive, which suppresses estrogen production, could weaken bones, but it’s not clear whether the drug actually increases the risk of bone fractures, the authors add.

Vaccines for Teens: Some States’ Rates Lag

More U.S. Teens Getting Their Shots, but States Vary Widely

Aug. 20, 2010 – More teens are getting their recommended vaccinations, but rates are still below target levels, the CDC reports.

There are two recommended vaccines for all teens:

   * One dose of menigococcal meningitis vaccine

   * One dose of the tetanus/diphtheria/whooping cough vaccine

One more vaccine is recommended for girls: three doses of a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, to protect against cervical cancer and genital warts. Boys who want protection against genital warts may also get the vaccine, but it’s not an official recommendation.

Are kids getting their recommended vaccinations? The overall news is good.

Common acne treatments linked to bowel problems

(Reuters Health) – Acne is a difficult enough burden for a young person to bear. Now there’s evidence that antibiotics commonly prescribed to help control severe breakouts may, in a very small number of patients, lead to inflammatory bowel disease.

Bowel disorders linked to acne treatment are “a rare outcome,” cautioned Dr. David Margolis, a dermatologist and lead author of a study in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, in an interview with Reuters Health

Study links pesticides to attention problems

(Reuters) – Children whose mothers were exposed to certain types of pesticides while pregnant were more likely to have attention problems as they grew up, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday.

The study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, adds to evidence that organophosphate pesticides can affect the human brain.

Immaturity Mistaken for ADHD?

Youngest Kids in Class More Likely to Get ADHD Diagnosis; Some Researchers Fear Misdiagnosis

Aug. 19, 2010 — If your child is the youngest in the class and has a diagnosis of ADHD — attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, marked by inattention and impulsiveness — it may be a mistake, researchers say.

What is actually immaturity may be mislabeled as ADHD, according to new studies.

”It’s not just how old you are when you enter kindergarten that matters,” says researcher Todd Elder, PhD, a health economist at Michigan State University, East Lansing. “It’s how old you are relevant to your classmates.”

Likewise, if your child is the oldest in the class and doesn’t have a diagnosis of ADHD, that, too could be wrong, Elder says.

Although recent headlines from his research have focused on the possibility that nearly 1 million children in the U.S. may have been misdiagnosed with ADHD, Elder tells WebMD that there may also be a substantial amount of underdiagnosis among older kids.

The research is slated to publish in the Journal of Health Economics.

Structured Homework Strategy Helps ADHD Kids

Study Shows Homework Problems Improve With a Program That Takes a Structured Approach

Aug. 16, 2010 — Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and homework problems often go together. Now, a simple and structured approach to doing homework appears to cut homework problems by more than half, according to a new study.

”The drop in the problems related to homework were very dramatic,” says researcher George Kapalka, PhD, associate professor and interim chair of the department of psychological counseling at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, N.J.

He presented his findings this week at the American Psychological Association annual meeting in San Diego.

Hearing Loss in Teens Is on the Rise

Study Shows 1 in 5 Teenagers Has Signs of Hearing Loss

Aug. 17, 2010 — Hearing loss in teens has gone up, with one in five U.S. adolescents showing some degree of hearing loss in 2005-2006, according to a new study.

Researchers compared hearing loss evaluated in two national surveys, one conducted in 1988-1994 and the other in 2005-2006. ”In the initial assessment back in the early ’90’s, about 15% [of teens] had any hearing loss,” says researcher Gary C. Curhan MD, ScD, associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health.

Obesity, Smoking Linked to Teen Migraines

Study Shows Lack of Exercise Also May Also Increase Chances of Migraines in Teenagers

Aug. 18, 2010 — Teens are more likely to have chronic headaches or migraines when they are overweight, smoke cigarettes, or get little or no exercise, new research shows.

Teenagers in the study with all three negative lifestyle factors had a more than threefold greater likelihood of having frequent, severe headaches than normal-weight, active teens who did not smoke.

Study: Cross-Eyed Kids Less Accepted by Peers  

Study: Cross-Eyed Kids Less Accepted by Peers

Researchers Urge Early Intervention to Align Children’s Eyes

Aug. 18, 2010 — Children with the eye  condition strabismus, often called cross-eyed or squint, are less likely to be accepted by their peers, according to a new study.

“Negative attitudes appear to emerge at approximately 6 years and increase with age,” write the Swiss researchers in the report of their study, published online in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

In most cases, ”parents really should not wait longer than age 5 for surgery,” researcher Daniel Stephane Mojon, MD, head of the department of strabismology and neuro-ophthalmology at Kantonsspital, St. Gallen, Switzerland, tells WebMD.

High School Athletes Hit Hard by the Heat

Study Shows Heat-Related Illnesses Are Most Common During Preseason Football

Aug. 19, 2010 — Thousands of high school athletes, mostly football players, are sidelined every year due to heat-related illnesses, and most occur during the preseason, primarily in August, the CDC says in a new report.

The analysis of heat-related injuries, published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report for Aug. 20, 2010, examined data for the 2005-2009 seasons provided by the National High School Sports-Related Surveillance Survey Study.

The report also says that heat-related injuries are more likely to occur among overweight athletes.

No Siblings? Your Social Skills Are Just Fine

Study Shows Teens Without Siblings Have Plenty of Friends

Aug. 17, 2010 — Despite concerns that an “only” child may be spoiled by his or her parents, new research suggests that teenagers without siblings don’t seem to be disadvantaged in the development of social skills.

Researchers at Ohio State University, who examined interview data on more than 13,000 middle and high school kids, say they found that those without siblings were chosen as friends by their classmates as often as those with brothers and sisters.

Overweight Kids Risk Weak Bones, Diabetes

Researcher Says Abdominal Fat May Play a Role in Bone Strength

Aug. 17, 2010 — Overweight children who are at risk for developing diabetes before puberty also face greater odds for having weak bones, a new study indicates.

Researchers at the Medical College of Georgia studied 140 children between the ages of 7 and 11 who got little regular exercise and found that 30% showed signs of poor blood sugar regulation and 4% to 5% less bone mass, which is a measure of bone strength.

The researchers say their new study is the first to suggest a link between weaker bones and childhood risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes, which is associated with inactivity and obesity, is becoming more common in kids. Type 1 diabetes is associated with poor bone health and is thought to be caused by genetic and environmental factors.

Wine May Cut Decline in Thinking Skills

Study Shows Wine Drinkers Perform Better Than Teetotalers on Cognitive Tests

Aug. 18, 2010 — Drinking wine in moderate amounts may reduce the risk of decline in thinking skills  in some people and may even protect against dementia, a new study shows.

Researchers in Norway studied the drinking habits of 5,033 men and women over a seven-year period, including some teetotalers.

More mental disorders treated with drugs only

(Reuters Health) – More Americans with psychiatric conditions are being treated with drugs alone compared with a decade ago, while “talk therapy” — either by itself or in combination with medication — is on the decline, a new study finds.

The implications of the trend, as well as its underlying causes, are not fully clear, according to researchers. But they say the findings indicate that outpatient mental health care in the U.S. is being redefined.

The results, reported in the American Journal of Psychiatry, are based on data from two government health surveys conducted in 1998 and 2007.

More evidence for fibromyalgia, suicide link

(Reuters Health) – A study of more than 8,000 Americans with fibromyalgia suggests that they are not at an overall increased risk of dying over a given time compared to people without the chronic pain condition.

Rates of suicide and accidental deaths, however, were higher than average among people with fibromyalgia in the study. Still, the overall risk of suicide was still low and the findings don’t prove that fibromyalgia symptoms cause suicide, the authors emphasize.

Clues Help ID Depressed People at Risk of Bipolar Disorder

Depression With Periods of Increased Energy and Decreased Need for Sleep Could Raise Risk of Bipolar Disorder, Study Says

Aug. 17, 2010 — Researchers have discovered clues that may help identify which people with depression are at risk of developing bipolar disorder. The new findings appear in the online version of The American Journal of Psychiatry.

Green Leafy Veggies May Cut Diabetes Risk

Study: Putting More Green Leafy Vegetables in Your Diet May Reduce Risk of Developing Type 2 Diabetes

Aug. 19, 2010 — People who add more green leafy vegetables to their diet may significantly reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes, a new study says.

Patrice Carter, a research nutritionist at the University of Leicester, and colleagues reviewed six studies involving more than 220,000 people that focused on the links between fruits and vegetables and type 2 diabetes.

They conclude that eating one and one half servings of green leafy vegetables per day reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes by 14%. However, they also found that eating more fruits and vegetables combined doesn’t seem to affect this risk.

Fish Oil Improves Metabolic Syndrome

Healthy Fats Improve Cholesterol and Triglyceride Levels in Metabolic Syndrome, Study Finds

Aug. 18, 2010 — A diet rich in omega-3 fish oil or healthy monounsaturated fats found in oils such as olive and canola may be beneficial for people with metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of risk factors known to increase risk for heart attack and diabetes. Features of metabolic syndrome include high blood pressure, insulin resistance, high cholesterol levels, and abdominal fat. The new findings appear in the September issue of the Journal of Nutrition.

“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.

Robert Reich Why the Unfolding Disaster in Pakistan Should Concern You

The human tragedy unfolding in Pakistan right now demands our full attention.

Flooding there has already stranded 20 million people, more than 10 percent of the population. A fifth of the nation is underwater. More than 3.5 million children are in imminent danger of contracting cholera and acute diarrhea; millions more are in danger of starving if they don’t get help soon. More than 1,500 have already been killed by the floods.

This is a human disaster.

It’s also a frightening opening for the Taliban.

Yet so far only a trickle of aid has gotten through. As of today (Thursday), the U.S. has pledged $150 million, along with 12 helicopters to take food and material to the victims. (Other rich nations have offered even less – the U.K., $48.5 million; Japan, $10 million, and France, a measly $1 million. Today (Thursday), Hillary Clinton is speaking at the UN, seeking more.)

This is bizarre and shameful. We’re spending over $100 billion this year on military maneuvers to defeat the Taliban in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan. Over 200 helicopters are deployed in that effort. And we’re spending $2 billion in military aid to Pakistan.

More must be done for flood victims, immediately.

Paul Krugman: Appeasing the Bond Gods

As I look at what passes for responsible economic policy these days, there’s an analogy that keeps passing through my mind. I know it’s over the top, but here it is anyway: the policy elite – central bankers, finance ministers, politicians who pose as defenders of fiscal virtue – are acting like the priests of some ancient cult, demanding that we engage in human sacrifices to appease the anger of invisible gods.

Hey, I told you it was over the top. But bear with me for a minute.

Late last year the conventional wisdom on economic policy took a hard right turn. Even though the world’s major economies had barely begun to recover, even though unemployment remained disastrously high across much of America and Europe, creating jobs was no longer on the agenda. Instead, we were told, governments had to turn all their attention to reducing budget deficits.

Bob Herbert: Too Long Ignored

A tragic crisis of enormous magnitude is facing black boys and men in America.

Parental neglect, racial discrimination and an orgy of self-destructive behavior have left an extraordinary portion of the black male population in an ever-deepening pit of social and economic degradation.

The Schott Foundation for Public Education tells us in a new report that the on-time high school graduation rate for black males in 2008 was an abysmal 47 percent, and even worse in several major urban areas – for example, 28 percent in New York City.

The astronomical jobless rates for black men in inner-city neighborhoods are both mind-boggling and heartbreaking. There are many areas where virtually no one has a legitimate job.

More than 70 percent of black children are born to unwed mothers. And I’ve been hearing more and more lately from community leaders in poor areas that moms are absent for one reason or another and the children are being raised by a grandparent or some other relative – or they end up in foster care.

Rep. Alan Grayson: Verizon-Google: There’s a Hard Rain Coming

“(Barry) Diller asserted that the Google-Verizon proposal “doesn’t preserve ‘net neutrality,’ full stop, or anything like it.” Asked if other media executives were staying quiet because they stand to gain from a less open Internet, he said simply, “Yes.” New York Times, August 12, 2010

The Verizon-Google Net Neutrality Proposal begins by stating that “Google and Verizon have been working together to find ways to preserve the open Internet.” Well, that’s nice. Imagine what they would have come up with if they had been trying to kill off the open Internet.

Actually, you don’t have to imagine it. Because that’s what this is. An effort to kill off the open Internet.

Much of the coverage of the Verizon-Google Proposal has focused on only one of the proposal’s many problems: the fact that the proposal allows wireless broadband carriers — like, say, Verizon, for instance — to discriminate in handling Internet traffic in any manner they choose. They can charge content providers, they can block content providers, and they can slow down content providers, just as they please. That sure doesn’t sound “neutral.”

We’ve already seen examples of political censorship over mobile networks. In 2007, Verizon refused to run a pro-choice text message from advocacy group NARAL, due to its supposedly ‘unsavory’ nature. Yes, this happened; yes, this kind of censorship would be continue to be legal under the Google-Verizon deal; and yes, Google, this is evil.

Judith S. Kaye, former Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals: Judging the Judge: A Matter of Rights and Wrongs

Every day, judges are called upon to resolve issues profoundly affecting the lives of our citizenry. Despite their diverse backgrounds and life experiences, men and women of good character are united in their commitment to decide each case fairly and impartially, consistent with their oaths of office.

No one would today argue that women judges cannot fairly preside over claims of sexual harassment, or that African-American judges should be disqualified from race discrimination cases. Yet word is now being circulated that the judge who presided over the federal trial regarding the constitutionality of Proposition 8 is gay and therefore should have recused himself from the case.

On August 4, 2010, United States District Court Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker held in a 136-page opinion that “Plaintiffs have demonstrated by overwhelming evidence that Proposition 8 violates their due process and equal protection rights” under the United States Constitution and struck down that law. Proposition 8 is the California ballot initiative that eliminated the right of same-sex couples to marry.

In the interest of full disclosure, I mention that in 2006, as Chief Judge of New York State’s highest court, I dissented from the decision that the New York Constitution does not guarantee same-sex marriage rights. I write, however, not to address the merits of the constitutional issue but to challenge the attacks on Chief Judge Walker designed to influence the outcome of the California case as it enters into the appellate stage and feed the insidious fiction that judging is a political process in which judges decide cases based on personal agendas or political or religious beliefs.

Joe Conanson: Why Rick Lazio wants to debate mosques, not money

For the New York GOP candidate, no topic is as sensitive as his dubious career in bank lobbying and deal making

No Republican politician has sought to inflame concerns about a Muslim community center in lower Manhattan so long, so loudly and so persistently as New York gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio. Best known until now for losing the 2000 Senate race to Hillary Clinton despite spending $45 million, Lazio has talked about almost nothing but the so-called “ground zero mosque” for the past month.

During the past few weeks he has demanded a probe of the Park51 project’s finances by Andrew Cuomo, the New York attorney general and Democratic gubernatorial candidate, and he then challenged Cuomo to a debate focused solely on the mosque. Admirably, Cuomo has brushed aside such crap by observing that the Constitution guarantees all Americans freedom of religion and that the government cannot forbid the construction of a church, temple or mosque by American citizens on private property.

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

August 21 is the 233rd day of the year (234th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 132 days remaining until the end of the year.

On this day in 1959, Hawaii became our 50th state. Hawaii is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It occupies most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia. Hawaii’s natural beauty, warm tropical climate, inviting waters and waves, and active volcanoes  make it a popular destination for tourists, surfers, biologists, and volcanologists alike. Due to its mid-Pacific location, Hawaii has many North American and Asian influences along with its own vibrant native culture. Hawaii has over a million permanent residents along with many visitors and U.S. military personnel. Its capital is Honolulu on the island of Oahu.

The state encompasses nearly the entire volcanic Hawaiian Island chain, which comprises hundreds of islands spread over 1,500 miles (2,400 km). At the southeastern end of the archipelago, the eight “main islands” are (from the northwest to southeast) Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Maui, and Hawaii. The last is by far the largest and is often called “The Big Island” to avoid confusion with the state as a whole. The archipelago is physiographically and ethnologically part of the Polynesian subregion of Oceania.

The first known settlers of the Hawaiian Islands were Polynesian voyagers who arrived sometime in the eighth century. In the early 18th century, American traders came to Hawaii to exploit the islands’ sandalwood, which was much valued in China at the time. In the 1830s, the sugar industry was introduced to Hawaii and by the mid 19th century had become well established. American missionaries and planters brought about great changes in Hawaiian political, cultural, economic, and religious life. In 1840, a constitutional monarchy was established, stripping the Hawaiian monarch of much of his authority.

In 1893, a group of American expatriates and sugar planters supported by a division of U.S. Marines deposed Queen Liliuokalani, the last reigning monarch of Hawaii. One year later, the Republic of Hawaii was established as a U.S. protectorate with Hawaiian-born Sanford B. Dole as president. Many in Congress opposed the formal annexation of Hawaii, and it was not until 1898, following the use of the naval base at Pearl Harbor during the Spanish-American War, that Hawaii’s strategic importance became evident and formal annexation was approved. Two years later, Hawaii was organized into a formal U.S. territory. During World War II, Hawaii became firmly ensconced in the American national identity following the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.

Admission, or Statehood, Day is an official state holiday. It is the home state of President Barack Obama, the only President from that state and one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. The pictures were the very hard to select. The second picture (above) is an aerial view of Diamond Head.

Diamond Head is a dormant volcanic cone on the island of Oahu. It is called Le’ahi by Hawaiians, most likely from lae ‘browridge, promontory’ plus ‘ahi ‘tuna’ because the shape of the ridgeline resembles the shape of a tuna’s dorsal fin. Its English name was given by British sailors in the 19th century, who mistook calcite crystals embedded in the rock for diamonds.

Then of course there are volcanoes at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The first picture on the left is the more famous of the volcanoes, Mauna Loa which is the largest volcano on Earth by volume and area and one of the five volcanoes in that form the islands.

 1192 – Minamoto Yoritomo becomes Seii Tai Shogun and the de facto ruler of Japan. (Traditional Japanese date: July 12, 1192)

1680 – Pueblo Indians capture Santa Fe from Spanish during the Pueblo Revolt.

1760 – The church (later cathedral) of “Our Lady of Candlemas of Mayaguez (Puerto Rico)” is founded, establishing the basis for the founding of the city.

1770 – James Cook formally claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales.

1772 – King Gustav III completes his coup d’etat by adopting a new Constitution, ending half a century of parliamentary rule in Sweden and installing himself as an enlightened despot.

1831 – Nat Turner leads black slaves and free blacks in a rebellion.

1852 – Tlingit Indians destroy Fort Selkirk, Yukon Territory.

1863 – Lawrence, Kansas is destroyed by Confederate guerrillas Quantrill’s Raiders in the Lawrence Massacre.

1878 – The American Bar Association is founded.

1888 – The first successful adding machine in the United States is patented by William Seward Burroughs.

1911 – The Mona Lisa is stolen by a Louvre employee.

1918 – World War I: The Second Battle of the Somme begins.

1928 – WRNY began regularly scheduled television broadcasts in New York City.

1942 – World War II: a Nazi flag is installed atop the Mount Elbrus.

1942 – World War II: Allied forces involved in the Guadalcanal campaign defeated an attack by Imperial Japanese Army soldiers in the Battle of the Tenaru.

1944 – Dumbarton Oaks Conference, prelude to the United Nations, begins.

1945 – Physicist Harry K. Daghlian, Jr. is fatally irradiated in a criticality incident during an experiment with the Demon core at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

1959 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state of the union. Hawaii’s admission is currently commemorated by Hawaii Admission Day

1963 – Xa Loi Pagoda raids: the Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces loyal to Ngo Dinh Nhu, brother of President Ngo Dinh Diem, vandalises Buddhist pagodas across the country, arresting thousands and leaving an estimated hundreds dead.

1968 – Soviet Union-dominated Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia, crushing the Prague Spring; on the same day, Nicolae Ceausescu, leader of Communist Romania, publicly condemns the Soviet maneuver, encouraging the Romanian population to arm itself against possible Soviet reprisals.

1968 – James Anderson, Jr. posthumously receives the first Medal of Honor to be awarded to an African American U.S. Marine.

1969 – An Australian, Michael Dennis Rohan, sets the Al-Aqsa Mosque on fire

1971 – A bomb exploded in the Liberal Party campaign rally in Plaza Miranda, Manila, Philippines with several anti-Marcos political candidates injured.

1983 – Philippine opposition leader Benigno Aquino, Jr. is assassinated at the Manila International Airport (now renamed Ninoy Aquino International Airport).

1986 – Carbon dioxide gas erupts from volcanic Lake Nyos in Cameroon, killing up to 1,800 people within a 20-kilometer range.

 1991 – Latvia declares renewal of its full independence after the occupation of Soviet Union.

1991 – Coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev collapses.

1992 – Ruby Ridge Standoff in Idaho

1993 – NASA loses contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft.

2001 – NATO decides to send a peace-keeping force to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

2001 – The Red Cross announces that a famine is striking Tajikistan, and calls for international financial aid for Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

2007 – Hurricane Dean makes its first landfall in Costa Maya, Mexico with winds at 165 mph (266 km/h). Dean is the first storm since Hurricane Andrew to make landfall as a Category 5.

(2 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

“Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today challenged the notion that removing ‘combat brigades’ but leaving 50,000 U.S. troops in Iraq constitutes an end to combat operations, let alone an end to the war”, a press release issued by Kucinich datelined Washington, Aug 19, 2010 and published on the Congressman’s house website stated. The release continued with:

“Who is in charge of our operations in Iraq, now? George Orwell? A war based on lies continues to be a war based on lies. Today, we have a war that is not a war, with combat troops who are not combat troops. In 2003, President Bush said ‘Mission Accomplished’. In 2010, the White House says combat operations are over in Iraq, but will leave 50,000 troops, many of whom will inevitably be involved in combat-related activities.”

“Just seven days ago, General Babaker Shawkat Zebari, the commander of Iraq’s military, said that Iraq’s security forces will not be trained and ready to take over security for another 10 years. One story is being told to the military on the ground in Iraq and another story is being told to their families back home.”

“You can’t be in and out at the same time.”

“This is not the end of the war; this is simply a new stage in the campaign to lull the American people into accepting an open-ended presence in Iraq. This is not an honest accounting to the American people and it diminishes the role of the troops who will put their lives on the line. This is not fair to the troops, their families or the American people.”

“The Administration and the Pentagon would be wise to level with the American people about our long-term commitment to Iraq.”

“The cost of the wars has been estimated to be around $1 million per soldier per year. Each year the troop levels stay at 50,000 means another $50 billion is wasted. I object to spending billions of dollars to maintain a charade in Iraq while our own economy is failing and over 15 million Americans are out of work. I object to keeping any level troops in Iraq to maintain a war based on lies. It is time that Congress sees through the manipulation and finally acts to truly end the war by stopping its funding,” said Kucinich.

RawStory.com noted today that “Kucinich’s statement doesn’t mention President Obama’s name once, but the president also didn’t don a military jumpsuit and fly a plane onto a carrier with a gigantic ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner”, and that as far as RawStory has noticed “Many of the top liberal blogs who have criticized Obama the past year went silent on the Iraq ‘exit’ coverage”.

Apart from Kucinich’s press release, RawStory also says that the only other “scathing editorial” they have seen was one posted on the the World Socialist Web Site that noted that:

The White House and the Pentagon, assisted by a servile media, have hyped Thursday’s exit of a single Stryker brigade from Iraq as the end of the “combat mission” in that country, echoing the ill-fated claim made by George W. Bush seven years ago.

Obama is more skillful in packaging false propaganda than Bush, and no doubt has learned something from the glaring mistakes of his predecessor. Bush landed on the deck of the US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003 to proclaim-under a banner reading “Mission Accomplished”-that “major combat operations” in Iraq were over. A captive audience of naval enlisted personnel was assembled on deck as cheering extras.

Obama wisely did not fly to Kuwait to deliver a similar address from atop an armored vehicle. He merely issued a statement from the White House, while leaving the heavy lifting to the television networks and their “embedded” reporters, who accompanied the brigade across the border into Kuwait and repeated the propaganda line fashioned by the administration and the military brass.

At The New York Times Media Decoder blog,, Brian Stelter reported, “The combat mission in Iraq doesn’t officially end until Aug. 31 but viewers and readers could be forgiven for thinking it ended tonight.”

In a broadcast that Brian Williams said constituted an “official Pentagon announcement,” NBC showed live pictures Wednesday night as members of the last combat brigade in Iraq drove toward the Kuwait border, symbolizing an end to fighting in the country.

“We are with the last combat troops” in Iraq, the NBC correspondent Richard Engel said at 6:30 p.m. Eastern, the same time that the military lifted an embargo that had been placed on the reporters traveling with the 440 troops, a part of the 4/2 Stryker Brigade.

The Associated Press, Fox News, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Al Jazeera and other news media outlets also reported Wednesday evening that the last combat troops were crossing into Kuwait. Only NBC broadcast it live, in asymmetrical image to the invasion that captured the nation’s attention on television seven years ago.

On May 19, 2009 the Christian Science Monitor reported in To meet June deadline, US and Iraqis redraw city borders that:

On a map of Baghdad  the US Army’s Forward Operating Base Falcon is clearly within city limits.

Except that Iraqi and American military officials have decided it’s not. As the June 30 deadline for US soldiers to be out of Iraqi cities approaches, there are no plans to relocate the roughly 3,000 American troops who help maintain security in south Baghdad along what were the fault lines in the sectarian war.

“We and the Iraqis decided it wasn’t in the city,” says a US military official. The base on the southern outskirts of Baghdad’s Rasheed district is an example of the fluidity of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) agreed to late last year, which orders all US combat forces out of Iraqi cities, towns, and villages by June 30.

“We consider the security agreement a living document,” says a senior US commander. With six weeks to go, US and Iraqi commanders are sitting down in joint security committees to determine how they can comply with the decree that all US combat forces withdraw from populated areas by the end of June and still maintain the requirement to assist Iraq in fighting the insurgency and maintaining security and stability.

In a more thorough and reality based analysis than most US media appears to have devoted to the story, in The US isn’t leaving Iraq, it’s rebranding the occupation, Seumas Milne wrote at the UK Guardian August 04, 2010:

…as Major General Stephen Lanza, the US military spokesman in Iraq, told the New York Times: “In practical terms, nothing will change”. After this month’s withdrawal, there will still be 50,000 US troops in 94 military bases, “advising” and training the Iraqi army, “providing security” and carrying out “counter-terrorism” missions. In US military speak, that covers pretty well everything they might want to do.

Granted, 50,000 is a major reduction on the numbers in Iraq a year ago. But what Obama once called “the dumb war” goes remorselessly on. In fact, violence has been increasing as the Iraqi political factions remain deadlocked for the fifth month in a row in the Green Zone. More civilians are being killed in Iraq than Afghanistan: 535 last month alone, according to the Iraqi government – the worst figure for two years.

And even though US troops are rarely seen on the streets, they are still dying at a rate of six a month, their bases regularly shelled by resistance groups, while Iraqi troops and US-backed militias are being killed in far greater numbers and al-Qaida – Bush’s gift to Iraq – is back in business across swaths of the country. Although hardly noticed in Britain, there are still 150 British troops in Iraq supporting US forces.

Meanwhile, the US government isn’t just rebranding the occupation, it’s also privatising it. There are around 100,000 private contractors working for the occupying forces, of whom more than 11,000 are armed mercenaries, mostly “third country nationals”, typically from the developing world. One Peruvian and two Ugandan security contractors were killed in a rocket attack on the Green Zone only a fortnight ago.

The US now wants to expand their numbers sharply in what Jeremy Scahill, who helped expose the role of the notorious US security firm Blackwater, calls the “coming surge” of contractors in Iraq. Hillary Clinton wants to increase the number of military contractors working for the state department alone from 2,700 to 7,000, to be based in five “enduring presence posts” across Iraq.

The advantage of an outsourced occupation is clearly that someone other than US soldiers can do the dying to maintain control of Iraq. It also helps get round the commitment, made just before Bush left office, to pull all American troops out by the end of 2011. The other getout, widely expected on all sides, is a new Iraqi request for US troops to stay on – just as soon as a suitable government can be stitched together to make it.

What is abundantly clear is that the US, whose embassy in Baghdad is now the size of Vatican City, has no intention of letting go of Iraq any time soon. One reason for that can be found in the dozen 20-year contracts to run Iraq’s biggest oil fields that were handed out last year to foreign companies, including three of the Anglo-American oil majors that exploited Iraqi oil under British control before 1958.

Since the 2003 invasion the occupation of Iraq has been called Operation Iraqi Freedom by the Pentagon and the administration.

In February this year the Obama administration decided to give the war in Iraq a new name: “Operation New Dawn”.

Ironically, since it appears to have slipped down the memory hole for so many, “Operation New Dawn” was the name given to the second 2004 attack and massacre of Iraqis by US Troops, in Fallujah.

Obama under pressure in test of principle that could define his presidency

Politicians are stirring up opposition to a proposed mosque near Ground Zero. The result: a vital examination of American values

By Rupert Cornwell Saturday, 21 August 2010

Listening to the Great Mosque Debate, you’d imagine that minarets and domes are about to rise on the exact spot where the Twin Towers stood – and that at the appointed hour, a muezzin’s voice will soon ring out, summoning a city to bow to the faith of Mohamed Atta and his fellow hijackers.

The truth is a little different. Essentially, the New York authorities have given planning permission for a proposed Islamic cultural centre that, apart from a place of worship, will contain, inter alia, basketball courts, a restaurant, and babysitting facilities, as well as a memorial to the victims of 9/11. And all this is contingent on funding being secured for the project.

Frank Lloyd Wright house in Bethesda now belongs to architect’s grandson



By Nancy McKeon

Special to The Washington Post

Saturday, August 21, 2010

It was just the kind of building site that Frank Lloyd Wright loved to tackle: The steep piece of land in a heavily treed corner of Bethesda was generally thought to be unbuildable. The driveway, a nearly straight drop from the wooded road above, was daunting. In addition, the only flat area was small, certainly not enough for a big house.

Wright visited the site in the 1950s and spoke with the lot’s owners. The husband was a lawyer with the Justice Department; he and his wife had come to Washington during the second Roosevelt administration.

USA

Five years after Katrina, New Orleans sees higher percentage of Hispanics



By Ylan Q. Mui

Washington Post Staff Writer

Saturday, August 21, 2010

NEW ORLEANS — Five years after Hurricane Katrina, the rebuilding of the Big Easy has created a new community of Latino immigrants in this famously insular city, redrawing racial lines in a town long defined by black and white.

The change began just weeks after one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history, which decimated homes, upended lives and drove a chunk of New Orleans’s black population to Baton Rouge, Houston and other places.

Muslims fear backlash as festival falls near Sept. 11

Citing a growing atmosphere of distrust, especially since the issue of the Islamic center near Ground Zero erupted, some plan to tone down celebrations of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan.

By Mitchell Landsberg, Los Angeles Times

August 21, 2010

For nearly a decade, the Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno has held a carnival on the Saturday following the end of Ramadan, during a festival that has been called the Muslim equivalent of Christmas. With pony rides, carnival attractions, games and Middle Eastern food, it’s a popular event for the community’s children.

This year, the center’s leaders had a sense of foreboding when they noticed the date on which the carnival would fall: Sept. 11.

Europe

Who really masterminded France’s crime of the century?

‘I was real brains behind Nice bank heist, not Spaggiari’, claims ‘Amigo’ in new book

By Molly Guinness in Paris Saturday, 21 August 2010

For 34 years, the legend of Albert Spaggiari as the daring mastermind behind France’s crime of the 20th century has blossomed.

From the raid on a bank via an underground tunnel to the daring escape on the back of a motorbike, his story has spawned films, books and theories of CIA involvement.

But now the legacy of one of the anti-heroes of modern French folklore – who taunted the authorities for their failure to catch him by sending photos of himself dressed as Father Christmas – is under threat.

Expelled Roma promise to return to France

More than 100 Roma were deported by France on Friday in the second day of a controversial clampdown on the minority group  

Published: 6:30AM BST 21 Aug 2010  

But as the 124 people landed in Timisoara, in their native Romania, many said they planned to head straight back to France.

“Of course I’m thinking about returning to France. Life is better than in Romania,” said 26-year-old Ionut Balasz as he arrived in Romania.Aurel Cioaba echoed his sentiment: “I was there [in France for] four months with my wife, and if I can’t get by here in Romania I will go back.”

President Nicolas Sarkozy announced the crackdown on Roma in late July as part of a larger “war” on people who outstay their work permits in France.

Middle East

Iran begins loading Bushehr nuclear reactor

Iran has begun loading fuel up its first nuclear power station in a ceremony attended by Russian officials.

The BBC  21 August 2010

Russia will operate the Bushehr plant in southern Iran, supplying its nuclear fuel and taking away the nuclear waste.

Iran has been subject to four rounds of UN sanctions because of its separate, uranium enrichment programme.

Experts say that as long as the plant is Russian-operated, there is little immediate threat of its fuel being diverted to make bombs.The West fears Tehran wants to build a nuclear weapon, but Iran insists its plans are for peaceful energy production.

Settlements ‘may halt’ direct talks



SATURDAY, AUGUST 21, 2010  

The Palestinian Authority has accepted an invitation from the United States to resume direct negotiations with Israel, but warned that it will withdraw if Israel builds more settlements on occupied Palestinian land.

The Quartet of Middle East peace negotiators – the UN, Russia, the EU and the US – said on Friday that it had invited Israeli and Palestinian leaders to attend talks in Washington on September 2.

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, confirmed that the talks would be attended by Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority.

Asia

Pakistan accepts $5m flood aid from India

Pakistan has accepted $5m (£3.2m) in aid from its rival and neighbour India, as donors pledged more money for the flood-hit country.

The BBC  21 August 2010

Abdullah Haroon, Pakistan’s UN Ambassador, welcomed the offer saying the disaster transcended any differences the two countries had.

Meanwhile, officials say the province of Sindh is now the worst hit, with more than two million people affected.

New warnings are being issued and villages evacuated, they said.

Mr Haroon welcomed the latest offers of help, which followed a two-day special meeting of the UN Security Council in New York to discuss the crisis.

UN figures showed on Friday that $490.7m had been raised for the relief effort, with another $325m pledged. The total tops the $460m sought in the UN emergency appeal.

Deaths that shocked Japan

Reports that a Japanese man kept his dead mother’s body in a rucksack for almost ten years are the latest in a string of unusual death-related stories from the country.

By Laura Roberts

Published: 7:30AM BST 21 Aug 201

Earlier this month the mummified body of a man who was registered as 111 years-old was discovered in his bedroom. Sogen Kate is thought to have been there for 30 years. he was found wearing underwear and pajamas and was covered with a blanket. his family said he retired to his room 30 years ago after announcing that he wanted to become a living Buddha. Officials believe that he died soon after that.

Since the macabre finding was made it has been discovered that almost 200 centenarians are missing, including 21 people who would be older than the nation’s oldest person of 113 – if it can be proved that they are still alive.

Africa

Stellenbosch University abuzz after student paper prints photo of gay kiss

At South Africa’s conservative Stellenbosch University, social-networking sites have lit up with comment since the student newspaper published a photo of a gay couple participating in a heterosexual ‘kiss-a-thon.’

By Ian Evans, Correspondent / August 20, 2010

Cape Town, South Africa

A kiss is just a kiss, or so the song goes – but not if it’s a gay kiss at one of South Africa’s oldest and most conservative, rugby-playing universities.

Students at the predominantly Afrikaans Stellenbosch University have been seething at a decision to publish a photograph of two men kissing on the front of the fortnightly student newspaper Die Matie. Editions have been slashed and torn up with some students saying the picture was offensive. But others have posted letters of support on Facebook, and some gay students saying the furor had given them the confidence to come out.

Nigeria: Is Goodluck Jonathan running for president or what?

Nigeria’s presidential race kicked off unofficially this week, with the entry of former president and military ruler Ibrahim Babangida and former vice-president Atiku Abubakar (both Muslims from the north) announcing their intent to run. Will incumbent Goodluck Jonathan, a southern Christian, enter the fray?

By Saratu Abiola, Guest blogger / August 20, 2010

Washington, D.C.

Goodluck Jonathan is oscillating so much on his 2011 plans, he makes Hamlet look decisive. He can’t just be doing this for kicks – what’s his end game?

From all the tea leaves before us, this next election is not going to be pretty. Northerners want a northern president (well, they always do) because Yar’Adua didn’t have his full term due to his protracted illness and eventual death. To zone or not to zone has been a question for months.

Former military president Babangida has voiced interest, so he and former vice (and now out-of-favor with ruling party heads) Atiku are said to be the choices for the Northern leaders’ endorsement as the election draws nearer.

Latin America

Wyclef Jean vows to help Haiti after presidential bid rejected

Hip-hop star urges supporters to respond to ruling ‘peacefully, responsibly’

msnbc.com news services

PORT-AU-PRINCE – Hip-hop star Wyclef Jean urged supporters to respond “peacefully and responsibly” to a Haiti provisional electoral council ruling that he is not eligible to run as a presidential candidate in the Nov. 28 election.

Singer-songwriter Jean, 40, an international celebrity who is popular in his impoverished and earthquake-ravaged homeland, was left off the list of approved candidates published by the council.

Ignoring Asia A Blog

Perhaps the most important and wonderful TeeVee shows in the late 1950s and early 1960s was The Twilight Zone.  Rod Serling was the genius behind it, and drove it to the top ratings for quite a while.

This was a show like no other before, and never used the same cast twice.  Only Rod Serling was the anchor, and almost always did the introduction, often after the opening setup.

No one has ever duplicated what Serling brought to the small screen.  Even after more than 60! years some of the stories are as fresh as if they had been written tomorrow.

Most hack writers, like me, just write and write and write to no avail.  I can write three stories in a day, but they are no good.  Serling was a genius.  He could write three stories in a day, and all of them were outstanding.  Many of his were the basis of The Twilight Zone, and he never even took credit for them.  He was probably the most prolific writer for the TeeVee that ever lived.

The Twilight Zone was unique.  The actors that Serling attracted were marvelous, some of them new, and some of them very, very well established.

I apologize for posting later than normal.  Windows decided to perform an update when I sat down to finish this piece, so I lost around 45 minutes this evening.

The most important part of an automobile is how to power the wheels (or belt, if one talks of a snowmobile).  What ever device does this must fulfill several requirements, which we shall look into later.

A device to propel a car must do several things, depending on the complexity of the automobile.  It must produce enough power to overcome internal friction, to overcome air resistance, to overcome rolling resistance of the tires, and a couple of other things as well.  Because of differences in combustion engines and battery operated motors, each type will be discussed separately.

Engines and Motors

These terms are often confused, used interchangeably, or otherwise misidentified.  Strictly, an engine is a device that converts the energy in heat to mechanical motion by cycling between intake and exhaust conditions.  An engine always uses a working fluid (a gas) that is at one temperature originally, then undergoes a compression/expansion (or the reverse) cycle to produce mechanical energy.  They are governed by the laws of thermodynamics expressed in the Carnot cycle.  One fundamental ramification is that an engine can only convert a finite fraction of the heat that is uses into mechanical energy.  In the most basic terms, the temperature difference between the cold side and the hot side of the engine provides the fundamental limit of efficiency.  Physicists, please do not criticize this oversimplified explanation.  I just do not think that this is the venue to go into the Carnot cycle in depth.

In most automobiles, a gasoline engine uses the chemical energy stored in the fuel to produce heat, and that heat is used to move pistons to produce mechanical energy.  Some use Diesel fuel, others propane, and still other specialized ones other fuels.  The Wankel rotary engine does not have pistons, but rather a rotor that serves a similar purpose.

Motors, on the other hand, are not heat based.  They are devices that use energy sources other than heat from a working fluid to produce mechanical energy.  For example, an old fashioned water wheel driven mill that grinds grain is a motor, not an engine.  Also, air driven tools like impact wrenches have motors in them, but not engines.  Probably the most common motor is operated from electricity.

This might seem like splitting hairs, but the distinction is important.  By the way, that idiom in French translates literately to “Cutting the hair in quarter.”  I do not know why I thought of that.  Unless you have the newest Nissan Leaf or a very, very old, turn of the 20th century battery powered car, your car has an engine, not a motor for its main source of mechanical energy.

Yet we still use the terms interchangeably.  Even folks who know the difference always say “outboard motor” for a small engine that pushes boats, because “outboard engine” just does not fall on the ears correctly.  Likewise, “motorcycle” is the term used rather than “enginecycle”.  That is just semantics.  As long as you remember that engines derive their energy from heat and that motors from sources other than heat, we will be fine for this discussion.

(Do not even ask me about a nuclear reactor, which is neither an engine nor a motor, but that is for a separate post.  It is more engine than motor, but is different).

Let us assume that we are talking about a conventional, gasoline powered engine.  It can have from one to however many pistons that are needed for the power requirements in the particular model.  Lawn mowers, chain saws, outboard “motors” and the like often have only one cylinder, but can have more.  In automobiles, common numbers are four, six, and eight, although I had a Geo Metro with three, and some very high end cars have 16.

Now, how does that engine work?  To grossly oversimplify, let us assume a one cylinder engine like in a typical lawn mower.  It works by taking air (oxygen) and gasoline, mixing them either by carburation or fuel injection, igniting the mixture to release heat, and having that heat drive a piston down with more energy than required to make the whole thing move.  But it gets more complicated.

Most gasoline and Diesel engines are either two stroke or four stroke ones.  (Some folks say two cycle and four cycle).  In a two stroke engine, every other movement of the piston produces power, and in a four stroke one, every forth movement produces power, in theory, two stroke engines are more efficient since there is less wasted motion.  For engineering reasons, four stroke engines are much (almost exclusively, as a matter of fact) more common in automobiles.  Let us examine how they work.

All piston engines take advantage of the up and down motion of a piston, connected to a crankshaft and moving through a cylinder, to produce useful mechanical motion.  Using a crank, it is possible to convert the up and down motion of the piston(s) to the rotational motion of the crank.  But there are costs, because there is friction between the bearings every step of the way, and the piston rings also have friction.

Basically, a piston in a cylinder moves up to get ready to have the charge fired, then the charge is fired near the top of the travel of the piston, and the expanding combustion gases drive it down with considerable force, moving the crank to do useful work.  Exactly how that is done differs betwixt two and four stroke engines.

It is actually easier to describe how four stroke engines work, since all of the essential functions are done one at a time.  Once we understand them, two stroke engines will be easier to comprehend.  There are two terms that need to be defined, first.  One is Top Dead Center (TDC) and Bottom Dead Center (BDC).  Those terms are actually pretty self explanatory, the first meaning the absolute top travel of the piston (and the throw (bearing surface) on the crank, by definition zero degrees), that the latter being the very bottom of the travel of the piston (and the lowest angular travel of the crank, 180 degrees).

Let us think about the workings of an engine.  On a four stroke, we will arbitrarily consider the intake stroke first.  In this instance, the piston is moving down the cylinder towards BDC.  As it does, the volume of cylinder expands and at the same time, the intake valve(s) opens to allow a fresh supply of air and gasoline vapor (if a unit that uses a carburetor).  Near BDC, the intake valve closes.

Then the crank pushes the piston towards TDC.  This is the compression stroke.  The gasoline and air mixture is compressed into a flammable mixture and gets ready to be ignited.  In conventional gasoline engines, a spark plug uses and electrical discharge to ignite the mixture.

In fuel injected engines, most modern gasoline ones and all Diesel fuel ones, the fuel is injected into the top of the cylinder just before TDC, with no fuel/air mixture being taken into the cylinder in the first place.  That is actually more efficient, and now only small engines use a carburetor to mix air with fuel vapor.  In any event, near TDC, the spark plug fires, igniting the fuel and air mixture.  In a Diesel engine, the heat high temperature from extremely high compression ignites the mixture without a spark.  This is the compression stroke.  All valves are closed during the compression stroke, obviously.

This causes the third cycle, the power stroke, to occur.  The fuel and air mixture deflagrates and the energy released pushes the piston down, hard, imparting energy to the crank and keeping the cycles alive.  I used the term deflagrate intentionally, because this explosion is controlled at subsonic speeds.  If the mixture detonates (propagating at supersonic speeds) much damage is done to the engine.  This is where octane rating comes into play, discussed later.  All valves are closed here, as well, so as not to vent any useful expanded gases away from the top of the piston.

Just after BDC, as the piston starts to rise, the exhaust valve(s) opens, allowing the spent, burnt material to go towards the tailpipe.  This is the exhaust stroke, and it completes the cycle.  Then a new intake stroke starts, and everything repeats.

The engineering is sort of amazing.  The valves have to hold a very tight seal during every cycle, and are usually equipped with very strong springs to keep them in place.  A device called a camshaft is geared one way or another to the crank, and it mechanically lifts the valves at the proper time either to intake or exhaust.  Often it is connected to the valve with valve lifters, and the modern ones work off of hydraulic pressure.  It essential that the lifters operate at the proper time, or the engine will not be in sync.  Older lifters were fully mechanical, and had to be adjusted by hand.  Because they had only intermittent contact with the valves, and made a tapping sound, even modern hydraulic ones are still called tappets.

One of the reasons that there is a red line on the tachometer is that the mechanical connexions can not stay in time with the firing at extremely high speeds, so performance suffers.  If you look at a typical horsepower curve you will see that there is a peak at a particular RPM, and that is falls off as rotational speed increases.  There are a couple of other reasons, as well.  Probably the most important is that as the rotational speed increases, the heat given off builds up before the cooling system can take it away.  That causes the piston to expand, and so does the cylinder.  The piston rings, the sealing parts, become unable to seal as efficiently betwixt the piston and the cylinder, and performance declines.

The most important reason for the red line is that lubrication is compromised at high RPMs.  On most cars, there is an oil pump that is ganged to the crank in one way or another, and the rotational speed of the crank operates the oil pump.  At extremely high speeds (and, thus high temperatures), motor oil tends to become less viscous (“thinner”) and does not cover the bearings as well.  There is a point where the oil pump can not supply enough oil to critical parts and the engine fails.

On some extremely high performance automobiles, different methods are used to keep even thin oil on the critical parts.  On modern Corvette engines, there are auxiliary pumps that collect oil during cornering and shoot it where it is needed, but this approach is obviously expensive.  Extremely high performance engines also often use synthetic oils that are more stable from breakdown at high speeds, and thus, high temperatures.

But those are not the cars that we usually drive.  Most of us have a relatively low tech unit that has changed little since 1940, except for the amenities.

Now we are ready to look into two stroke engines.  These blend the four strokes into two, but they are more complicated to make work.  The best of them are half again more efficient that four stroke ones, though.

In a two stroke engine, the exhaust stroke and the power stroke are merged.  So are the intake and compression strokes.  It is hard to do, but the results are good, for limited applications.

Let us consider a two stroke engine at BDC.  It is at the bottom of the power stroke, and starts to rise.  To run, it has to exhaust spent gases and take a fresh charge.  Usually there is a hole in the cylinder and the gases pass though it into the tailpipe.  But before that, it has to intake new fuel and air on the downstroke.

Most two cycle engines have a blower arrangement that introduces fresh fuel and air under pressure on the downstroke, and with a piston with a deflector on it to help keep that mixture inside the cylinder.  As the piston rises, it forces out the rest of the spent mixture, and then covers the exit hole.  Near TDC, the mixture ignites for the power stroke.  As the piston falls, the pressure in the cylinder sucks in more fuel and air, and the cycle repeats.  Because of the valving requirements, a two stroke engine is not twice as efficient than a four stroke one, but can come pretty close.  But there extreme disadvantages.

For use in automobiles, two stroke engines have been pretty much dismal failures.  Some large Diesel tractor trailer engines are two stroke, and they work well, as do some vary large fixed engines like on ocean vessels and in power plants.  Most consumers are familiar with two stroke engines in small engines, like some lawnmowers, string trimmers, chain saws, and the like.  Their high power output is well suited to these applications.  The disadvantage is that the small engines are “total loss” lubrication.  In other words, the engine oil is mixed with the fuel, either in the tank or by an oil injector and is burned during use.  That makes them quite a bit more polluting than four stroke engines.  In large two stroke engines it is possible to design systems that do not require the burning of the lubrication oil, so these are actually less polluting since they are more efficient.

I should point out there are some experimental six stroke engines that the very efficient, because they use some the the heat wasted by two and four stroke ones.  This is beyond the scope of this discussion.

In an automobile engine, as the fuel and air mixture is compressed and is fired (usually a little before top dead center, since it takes time for the flame to develop), an explosion occurs in the cylinder, pushing the piston down.  The relative volume of the cylinder between TDC and BDC is called the compression ratio, and the larger the compression ratio, the more efficient the engine.  This is one of the reasons that Diesel engines are more efficient than gasoline engines, because Diesels have ratios of around 20:1, where gasoline engines are around half that.  In gasoline engines, as the compression ratio increases, the gasoline and air mixture tends to detonate (the explosion propagates at supersonic speeds rather than subsonic speeds) and this is extremely damaging to engine parts, battering them.

The octane number of gasoline is a measure of its resistance to detonation.  The higher the number, the more resistant it is.  Detonation is called knocking or pinging by most drivers.  Most normal performance engines run at a compression ratio of around 8:1, so 87 octane fuel is fine.  Back in the day of the muscle cars, ratios of 11:1 or even higher were not uncommon, so 100 octane fuel was common, and even higher octane ratings are possible.  In the old days, tetraethyl lead and ethylene bromide were added to raise octane ratings (if you want to know how that works, ask in a comment), hence the name “ethyl” gasoline.  When EPA mandated removal of lead from on-road fuel, compression ratios were lowered and other materials used to boost the rating, ethanol being an excellent octane booster.  Benzene, toluene, and the xylenes are also uses.

In a gasoline engine, a spark plug is used to ignite the fuel and air mixture, whilst in a Diesel engine the extremely high temperature reached by the high compression ratio is sufficient to ignite the mixture.  In the old days, almost all gasoline engines were fitted with a carburetor, which mixed the fuel and air using the natural vacuum produced by the engine, and the engine intook the mixture with the gasoline in vapor form.  (Except for the accelerator jets which squirted liquid gasoline into the intake manifold when the pedal was punched hard).  Modern automobile engines now are almost all fuel injected, where a high pressure pump meters gasoline and squirts it either into the intake manifold (not the best method) or directly into each cylinder separately (the best method).  Diesel engines are all direct injected.

Fuel injection is much more efficient than carburetors because the modern auto computer can control precisely the amount of fuel reaching the cylinders depending on load and speed with injection, while carburetors are approximate at best, and not amenable to computer control.  In a modern car, the computer coordinates fuel intake, air intake, time of ignition (the precise position of ignition varies with load and speed, and generally needs to be earlier the faster the engine runs).  In the old days, a centrifugal device was attached to the distributor and advance the timing with rotational speed.  Computer control is much more precise.  By the way, a modern car has many times more computing power than the Apollo spacecraft that carried us to the moon had.  In a Diesel engine, the timing is determined by controlling the time where the fuel is injected into the hot, compressed air in the cylinder and there is no electrical component.

I think that we shall stop here for the evening, because there is no way that I can cover motors and keep the piece short enough not to be boring.  We shall take them up in future.  I think that next week we shall discuss the ignition systems used then and now, since getting ignition right is central to efficient running.

Well, you have done it again.  You have wasted a perfectly good set of photons reading this low horsepower post.  And even though Rand Paul (against whom I will have the pleasure of voting in November) stops to talk with reporters when he reads me say it, I always learn much more than I could ever hope to teach whilst writing this series, so please keep those comments, questions, corrections, and other thoughts coming.  Remember, no scientific or technical issue is off topic here.

Warmest regards,

Doc

Crossposted at Dailykos.com and at Docudharma.com

(10 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

This is one more reason that the ADL is wrong about the Islamic Cultural Center near Ground Zero. You will not win their hearts and minds with intolerance.

Do you hear me, Dr. Dean?

The Mosque That Sheltered Jews

“Their children are like our own children”

“Yesterday at dawn, the Jews of Paris were arrested. The old, the women, and the children. In exile like ourselves, workers like ourselves. They are our brothers. Their children are like our own children. The one who encounters one of his children must give that child shelter and protection for as long as misfortune – or sorrow – lasts. Oh, man of my country, your heart is generous.”

– A tract read to immigrant Algerian workers in Paris, asking them to help shelter Jewish children.

by Annette Herskovits

There is in the center of Paris a handsome mosque with a tall slender minaret and lovely gardens. It was built in the 1920s, as an expression of gratitude from France for the over half-million Muslims from its African possessions who fought alongside the French in the 1914-1918 war. About 100,000 of them died in the trenches.

  During World War II, when the Germans occupied France, the mosque sheltered resistance fighters and North Africans who had escaped from German POW camps. (The French recruited 340,000 North African troops into the French army in 1939.) When the French police started rounding up Jews and delivering them to the German occupiers, the mosque sheltered Jews as well, most of them children.

  The Nazi program called for eliminating all Jews, of any age. More than 11,600 Jewish children under 16, including 2,000 younger than six, were deported from France to be murdered at camps in eastern Europe. Still, 83 percent of the Jewish children living in France in 1939 survived. Most were “hidden,” that is, given non-Jewish identities to keep them out of the authorities’ reach. This required massive help from the French people.

  Hiding children entailed a complex, extended organization. Rescuers had to get hold of the children, which often meant kidnapping them from detention centers or Jewish children’s homes in full view of the Nazi occupiers. They had to procure false papers, find shelter (in foster homes, boarding schools, convents), raise funds to pay for upkeep, and send the payments without attracting attention.

  They had to keep records, in code, of the children’s true and false names and whereabouts, bring the children to their hiding places in small groups, and visit them regularly to ascertain that they were well treated. Many who participated in this work – both Jews and non-Jews – perished.

  Innumerable French citizens provided aid of a less active kind: they remained silent, even when they suspected the children were fugitives. Many of the children were recent immigrants who spoke French with an accent and did not “look” French. A child might disclose his or her true name when surprised – or in defiance. Most at risk were very young children who needed repeated coaching.

Annette was one of those children.

h/t to valadon from a re-tweet and an article at Street Spirit

Exhibition on Albanian Muslims Who Sheltered Jews during WWII

28 January 2009

An exhibition on Albanian Muslims who sheltered Jews during World War II opened in the mixed Jewish-Arab town of Ramle on Tuesday to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day. For the first time, in an attempt to reach out to Muslims, Yad Vashem, Israel’s national Holocaust memorial, has hosted a standing exhibition in Hebrew and Arabic.

Holding the event in Ramle, a working-class town where thousands of Arabs live alongside Jews, underscored the organizers’ goal of improving relations.

Yad Vashem’s chair, Avner Shalev, said the exhibition does not involve itself in the modern-day Middle East conflict, but added that he hoped the exhibition would inspire and provoke discussion.

“There is nothing in common with that [historical] period and this bitter conflict that goes on and on … but if both sides recognize their right to exist, side by side, we’ll find a way. This kind of exhibition sheds light, it gives hope of the humanity of human beings,” Shalev declared.

Yad Vashem has also honoured 63 Muslim Albanians for sheltering Jews during World War Two. They are among 22,000 people that the museum recognizes as “Righteous Among the Nations” – non-Jews who defied their communities and governments to save Jews from death at the hands of Nazis.

Because he is!

EDITORIAL: The first presumed Muslim president

By THE WASHINGTON TIMES, The Washington Times

6:54 p.m., Friday, August 20, 2010

Adding fuel to the fire is Mr. Obama’s family heritage: born of a Muslim father and raised by a Muslim stepfather. Under Shariah law, having a Muslim father makes one a Muslim, though this custom has no legal standing in the United States.

Of course his mother was Jewish which makes him a Jew under Jewish law.

Noted Theologian and Evangelist Franklin ‘Son of Billy’ Graham–

I think the president’s problem is that he was born a Muslim, his father was a Muslim. The seed of Islam is passed through the father like the seed of Judaism is passed through the mother.

“It’s a wise man who knows who his father is.”

Warning, it starts LOUD!

I have written about adverts on the TeeVee before, but there are a whole new crop of them now.  I am not against advertising; as a matter of fact I strongly support it in concept.  However, some of them are just offensive, at least to me, and others are very well received, again at least for me.

Tonight I will pick out my most favorite ones, my most disliked ones, and the genres that I personally like and dislike.  Like all forms of art, adverts are extremely subjective and I do not expect that everyone will agree with me.  That actually makes the topic more interesting.

The new advert that I really like is the Geico one with the Little Pig squealing “Wee, wee, wee!” all the way home.  The facial expressions of the soccer mum driving him as he squeals is priceless.  Geico has some pretty good adverts, and I like the gecko ones as well, but I also know that others dislike him to the extreme.  The other new one with Erby as the counselor is funny, I guess, but since I am sensitive to folks in need of therapy, I find it sort of distasteful, and it certainly would not have worked with any other actor, except maybe Nicholson.

All in all, I give Geico pretty good marks for innovative adverts, and am glad to see the cavemen sort of fade.  They were funny for a while, but are sort of stale.  I can not believe that they (not Geico) tried to make this concept (with the same actors) into a successful series.  It is fine for 15 to 30 seconds, but not for a 30 minute series.

Although they are not outstanding, I sort of like the J.G. Wentworth ones, because they are consistent.  The same actor is always somewhere to be found, and consistency is good.  However, I strongly object to the product that they are pushing, getting a lump sum from that firm in exchange for some sort of settlement installments at cents on the dollar.  I know that some folks “need it now!” but I consider such business practices predatory.  Wentworth, I am sure, supplies full disclosure when one signs the contract, but I do not approve of the business model.  That in no way means that they practice unethical business practices in my opinion, just that this is sort of like a pawn shop, taking advantage of folks in need.

The one advert that I will flip away from, or get up and check the weather, is the current Land Rover one.  I do not think that is a bad advert, at least for most people, but the screen showing fingers changing the background like one would do on a smart telephone is extremely disconcerting for me.  It is just too busy.

On the other hand, Subaru has an excellent advert in which the father is explaining his philosophy of driving to his little girl, behind the steering wheel.  She appears to be about six years old, and he is reiterating safety rules about cellular telephone use, not to drive on the freeways just yet, and so on.  Finally she says, “DAD!, OK!”, and he gives her the keys.  The next shot of her, starting the car, is a very attractive 16 or 17 year old, getting ready to drive without a parent for the first time.

I usually do not like “cute kid” adverts, but this one works extremely well.  As a father, I have gone through three iterations of teaching children to drive, and this advert connects with parents.  We who have had children know that dreadful day, week, month, and year will finally come and this connects perfectly without being silly.  This may be one of the best adverts of 2010.

To go from the sublime to the ridiculous, interestingly also an automobile advert with the cute kid theme, is the new Mercedes Benz one for their certified used cars.  That one uses an number of cute kids to tell what they will do with the Mercedes that they 1) are sure that they will get and 2) are too young to drive.  The part of that particular advert that get me the most is the little boy who says that he “… will take it a thousand million miles.”

Well, you can take the Geek out of the title, but you can not take the Geek out of Translator.  I did the maths, and determined this:  that kid could not possibly live long enough to do so.  By the way, the term “thousand million” is equal to one billion in the United States (the same unit is often called a “milliard” in UK speak, but UK folks often use “thousand million” to keep from confusion, because their “billion” is our “trillion”.  Go figure out English for me.)

In any event, if one were to drive at 60 miles per hour in that car, to cover that distance would take 1906 years, whilst driving 24 hours a day, without ever stopping.  I think that this is deceptive advertising, but when a cute little boy says it, all is fine.  As an aside, Mercedes DOES have, or at least used to have, a program that you could enter to order an emblem for each 250,000 miles that went on the radiator grill to show how well your car lasted.  However, a billion miles is not possible unless it is like my axe.

My axe is a really, really good one.  It has had 14 handles and four heads, and is still going strong.  Sorry, but that is a very old country joke.

I already alluded to some of the genres that I dislike.  Cute little kids are close to the top.  However, there are several others that I really dislike.  One is the stupid husband (or other male) type.  This guy is clueless and just, well, stupid.  A recent one had to do with a frozen pizza (I do not remember the brand or I would call it out) and a horribly dirty carpet.  The stupid husband lied to his wife that the pizza delivery person dirtied the carpet, when in fact he and his friends did so, and he also left out the box in which it came.  I hate adverts that belittle and demean folks.

Another genre that I very much dislike is the sexy girl says so, so you have to buy it one.  This happens a whole lot, and not only with products advertised towards men.  Many of them are directed towards women, and they are just demeaning.  The worst one right now is the supermodel sucking and licking her yogurt cup, then wiping it out with her finger, sucking it clean, and saying, “I love Lite and Fit”.  I think that the supermodel Klum is the actress.  That is just offensive to me, and I am no prude.  Another woman was the other actress in this one.  Those are just offensive, but not deceptive.  I am sure that the calories cited in the adverts are accurate.

In the genre of deceptive adverts (other than the ones already mentioned) are the reverse mortgage ones and the gold ones.  I dislike both of them for their deceptiveness.

I will not name any particular proprietor, but there are three companies that offer reverse mortgages that are heavily advertised.  One uses Robert Wagner, hack actor from the 1960s series It Takes a Thief (interestingly, with Fred Astaire in a supporting role) about a thief who came over to the “good” side.  For those of you young enough not to remember that series, Wagner played “Number 2” in the Austin Powers movie series.

Another pitcher is the former Senator, Fred Thompson, a Presidential candidate a couple of years ago.  He goes through the same pitch about how the reverse mortgage will allow you to pay your bills and keep your house.  I have more to say about the veracity of these statements after I introduce the most shocking pitcher of these adverts.

That would be one Henry Winkler, yes, Fonzie from Happy Days.  This is just my opinion, but I would have thought that the residuals from Happy Days would have kept him in money, but he did jump the shark.  Perhaps those residuals are not as lucrative as those for Nimoy and Shatner.  At least they pitch less deceptive products.

Those adverts are patently deceptive.  They all say pretty much the same thing, that if you are 62 or over that you can get money from your house if you contract with them.  That is true as far as it goes.  But this is what they do NOT say.

The occupant is still responsible for taxes and insurance, and the lender gains a lien of the property.  Normally, a conventional mortgage takes enough from the monthly payments and deposits those monies into escrow accounts to cover taxes and insurance.  Not in this case, unless deductions are made from the monthly payout checks to cover them.

Also, there is almost always a clause that the former owner has to OCCUPY the residence to qualify.  So, if Grandmum has to go to the nursing home, the reverse mortgage lender immediately gets the title.  The number of days vary, but it is not out of the realm of possibility that a long vacation might jeopardize the title.  Occupancy is a tricky subject, and I am sure that contracts vary.  Attorneys, please comment here.

I find both Winkler and Wagner despicable for endorsing this without proper disclosure.  I had expected better from them, but everyone will prostitute one’s self for money if it is needed.  I am not surprised about Thompson.  He has been despicable for many, many years, so this is nothing new for him.  By the way did any of you see the very creepy looking Thompson, with the goatee, begging for the reversal of the “Bush tax cuts” expiring?  He looks like The Master from Doctor Who.

Gold adverts are also, in my opinion, deceptive.  As a general rule of thumb, it is generally not a very good idea to buy a commodity for resale when it is higher in price than it ever is.  That is the case with gold, since the spot price is now higher in dollars than ever (if you adjust for inflation, that is not absolutely correct, but it is near the top even after inflation is taken into account.

I remember Hannity pitch gold on his radio show for a long time, until the guy that ran the outfit went to federal prison for fraud.  So much for that one.

The gold advert featuring convicted felon Gordon Liddy is typical.  He tells you about how our economy is fatally flawed, that currency is becoming worthless (he even holds up a tiny picture of a dollar bill), and that gold always “goes, up, NOT down!”  This is an outright lie, and for the life of me I do not understand why the FTC does not come out with a cease and desist order.

There is a similar one by some hack actor that played on Mary Hartman, Marty Hartman years ago with essentially the same pitch.  Fear is the primary issue in all of these adverts.

They are extremely deceptive because gold is one of the most volatile commodities.  You are as apt to lose a good chunk of your “investment” than to gain.  Then there is the question of security.  You can pay a fee for the seller to hold it for you, but there is a cost in that.  Besides, if they go belly up, will you get your gold?  You can have them send it to you, but where will you keep it?  A safety deposit box is the answer for most folks, but that also costs money.

Of course, when you buy gold you pay a premium over the dealer’s cost, or otherwise the seller will not stay in business.  Likewise, when you sell gold, you get paid less than the current spot price. In addition, if you hold the gold for less than a year, any gain that you make on it is taxable at your top marginal rate (if held for longer, at the 15% long term capital gains rate).  Furthermore, the IRS is looking into requiring 1099 forms for commodity purchases of $600 or more, so you will not be able to get around this.  Also, if you buy ingots you will have to pay to get them assayed when you sell them (that is why coins may be a better choice).  If you want gold, go to your local coin dealer.

I know that this is getting long, but there are still a couple of things to cover.  They overlap.  If one looked at a Venn Diagram, one would see a big circle of Medical, then smaller circles, some intersecting with the bigger one as FDA approved pharmaceuticals and another as dietary supplements that are not regulated by FDA.  There are some others as well, particularly homeopathic remedies that by definition can not ever do anything, to good or for ill.

Many of you might not know it, but I was pretty important in FDA at one time.  Thus, I know about what I speak.  I believe that no pharmaceutical should ever be advertised in the popular literature, but only in medical journals.  There is a reason for that, and it is patient pressure on medical professionals to prescribe drugs after seeing the adverts on TeeVee, on in print.  This is pernicious.  Here are a few of the reasons.

First, self diagnosis is almost always wrong.  That is not to say that if physicians are not able to help you that you should not try to figure it out yourself, but unless you are extremely good at separating feelings from facts, the literature overwhelmingly shows that folks almost always misdiagnose themselves.  Thus, they ask for the wrong drugs.

Second, physicians are themselves influenced by adverts.  In medical school and further education, less than 5% of the time is dedicated to pharmaceuticals.  Most physicians are more influenced by adverts and, especially, by representatives of the drug companies.  Very few have really good knowledge.

Third, economics comes into play.  The more patients that a physician sees, the better the profit.  A fast glance, obeying the patient’s demand for a particular drug, and getting her or him out of the door and another one coming in adds to profit.  This is not speculation.

There are many examples, but I will give you one that is heavily advertised right now.  It the eye drops for dry eye syndrome.  The drug company paid a very attractive female physician to hawk the drug, Restasis, and then to say almost nothing about how it works.  Actually, when asked how it works, she just says, “Two drops, twice a day.”  THAT IS NOT HOW IT WORKS, but rather how do administer it.

The way that it works is to suppress the immune reaction of the eye, essential to keeping the delicate and necessary organ from harm.  In some folks, inflammation blocks the tear ducts and keeps the eye dry.  Inflammation is caused by a number of reasons, but the drug in this product pretty much shuts off the body from protecting itself from viral, fungal, or bacterial invasion.  The generic name for the drug is cyclosporin(e), depending on how you spell it, and it is the drug of choice to prevent tissue rejection for organ transplants.  Why?

It tricks the body not to attack foreign tissues or cells.  That is great for a lifesaving kidney or heart transplant, but for dry eyes?  That is madness.  Just use the artificial tears, for goodness’ sake!  Your eyes are open around two-thirds of the time, and thus exposed to viruses, bacteria, and fungi.  To suppress the immune system of those most vulnerable organs seems like insanity to me.

Finally, and this will require the most extreme delicacy since this is a family blog, there is the question of sexual enhancement products.  I would not broach this subject, except that adverts for them are rampant.  They fall into two categories, mostly.

Up until a few months ago, it was the male enhancement ones, that promise to make a male’s penis larger if taken regularly.  Those have never been shown to work, except to separate money from wallets.  The most offensive of those are the Smiling Bob adverts, and they still run.  There is no scientific evidence to support those claims, and if you look very carefully at the fine print you will see that FDA has no opinion, considering it as a nutritional supplement.  What they really mean is that the Republican Congress years ago exempted them because of money.  Clinton signed the bill to keep FDA funded.

These materials are placebos.  If you think that they will help you, they, acting of the most important sexual organ, the brain, might.  I have studied them.  They do NOT work.  That is not to be said about the next, and last, class of drugs that we will consider tonight.  They are also heavily advertised on popular media.

Viagra and its mates work differently.  They actually DO cause erections under the proper circumstances.  The mechanism of action is pretty simple.  They facilitate the release of the neurotransmitter, nitric oxide, to cells sensitive to it.  When working right, that neurotransmitter causes the corpus carvernosum in the male penis to start holding more blood than it releases.  The result is an erect penis, and until something reverses the reaction (usually an ejaculation), it stays that way in order to reproduce sexually.  Well, that was the original intent, but we humans often do it merely for pleasure.

In any event, what is “good” for the pelvic nerves is not always good for the cranial ones.  It turns out that the same nitric oxide neurotransmitter that makes us ready for sex can choke off nerves that control sight and hearing.  There have been many recorded instances of that.  Even the adverts mention that if you have any problem with vision or hearing to call your doctor at once.

Like the physician could do anything about it!  Not likely.  Usually the audial and visual symptoms go away after a while (not always), but if an erection is sustained for more than five or six hours, the corpus deteriorates and the penis becomes sort of a piece of flaccid chicken.  Recovery is unlikely, because the cellular structure has been damaged.  Is it worth one time to sacrifice the rest of your sexuality?

Well, now you can see why I do not approve of prescription drugs being advertised.  There are many more dozens of reasons, and if you ask I will tell.

Now for my favorite advert, it was the Alka-Seltzer one dozens of years ago.  The cook was supposed to say, “Mama, Mia, this is a spicy meatball!”  After many takes, he was getting full and had heartburn.  He finally got it right, and oven door fell off, ruining the piece, but just right for the advert, as they had planned.

If you have any most or least favorite adverts, please mention in the comments.  I know that I left out a whole lot, but did not want this to get too long.

Be sure and join us Sunday evening at 9:00 Eastern for Pique the Geek.  This time we shall discuss engines and motors (and there IS a difference).

Warmest regards,

Doc

Crossposted at Docudharma.com and Dailykos.com