Cha-Ching!

Not too much cha-ching for new recruits to the army, although I hear the bonuses are pretty sweet. I thought y'all might be interested...

When Writers Try Too Hard

From Yahoo News:

“If your grandmother claims she’s squirreled away every issue of Reader’s Digest, there will soon be an easy way to check: just go up to the attic and count to 1,000.

The 1,000th issue of the 83-year-old minimagazine comes out this week, and the occasion is likely to prompt thoughts about the Digest’s colorful history and its status as an American symbol.”

Oh, that’s considered the “easy” way? What tha…

And please tell me it promted thoughts about the magazine’s status as an American symbol. Who? What? We couldn’t find a better symbol than pithy softball summaries of other magazine’s journalism? Argh!!

p.s. I quit my job this week. Got a new one. New title: junior IA. Begone you tedious freelance assignments. Out, out, damn spot!

All That Sneezing Had to be Good for Something!

Having asthma, hay fever or another allergic condition may reduce the risk of developing one fatal form of brain cancer, a new study suggests. New evidence for this relationship is found in the normal variation of two genes, the scientists say.

Death Knell for Cell Phone Driving (sniff, sniff)

People who use a cell phone when driving are four times more likely to have a serious crash and hands-free devices are no safer, concludes new research. I keep hoping we will get better at it...

Could Makeup Shorten Your Life?

On the heels of research linking the common chemical compound phthalate to reproductive abnormalities in humans, an Indiana State University study has found a connection between the same chemical and lupus in mice.

Recent research at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry found smaller genitals in the male babies of pregnant women who used beauty products containing phthalates.

Now researchers at Indiana State who injected mice with phthalates, a compound present in a variety of plastics and beauty products, found the injections triggered lupus and caused development of glomerulonephritis. The injection also considerably shortened the lifespan of mice that have a genetic disposition to the disease.

“Our findings clearly show that lupus can be caused by an environmental factor like phthalate, which is present in toys, in many other plastic products, including PVC pipes and medical devices, and in beauty products,” said Swapan K. Ghosh, professor and interim chair of life sciences.

In lupus, the immune system attacks its own body’s tissues as though they are foreign substances. The disease can lead to problems with kidneys, the heart, lungs or blood cells.

“Lupus type auto-immunity is five times more common in women than in men,” said So-Yon Lim, who worked with Ghosh on the study. “Is that because women use a lot more cosmetics and perfumes than men?”

While studies of the lupus-associated anti-DNA antibody have been limited to mice, there are indications humans could also be susceptible, Ghosh said.

Drug-Induced Gambling Addiction

I found this fascinating so I had to share...

Habitual, compulsive gambling with losses up to $200,000 within six months by those who previously never or only occasionally gambled recreationally has been tied to Parkinson’s disease drugs called dopamine agonists.

“This is a striking effect,” says J. Eric Ahlskog, M.D., Ph.D., Mayo Clinic neurologist who treated most of the patients in the series. “Pathological gambling induced by a drug is really quite unusual.”

The good news is that excessive gambling behavior only occurs in a small number of patients given the drugs, and it can be stopped as suddenly as it came on. “It’s a very rare side effect and reversible if you get off the drug, but you have to make the association,” says Dr. Ahlskog.

How High Can You Go?

This is reverse limbo: not how low can you go, but how high?

Highest price I have ever seen for a mixed drink: $12.

Most I have ever paid for a taxi: $40 (in Chicago).

Highest price I have ever paid for a pair of jeans: $80.

Can anyone beat these prices?

The Boob Tube Strikes Again

In a study of third graders, children with a television in their bedrooms had lower scores on standardized tests while children with access to a home computer had higher scores, researchers report.

Children who watch the most television during childhood and adolescence may be less likely to finish school or go on to earn a university degree, according to a study.

And television viewing before the age of three may have adverse effects on subsequent cognitive development, according to another study.

Bottom line: Uh, no idea. My brain shut off back on the third word. Damn 30-second attention span! (The links above lead to the original press releases. Here is some media coverage of the research, published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.)

Why Can't I Be This Smart?

Once again, whoever creates the subject headings for spam reaches a level of brilliance rarely seen, perhaps only when using magnetic poetry.

Even that means nothing compared to the ironic genius in my inbox: her watch be flabby cholera.

Now you see it, too...

Pirates, They're Still Around?

BBC: Pirates Hijack Tsunami Aid Ship

And to follow up on a couple earlier posts, Spain has OK'd gay marriages. And could the high child abuse rates and high divorce rates in the military be linked?

Plus, new Cingular/Nokia phone needs to be returned again I think. Grrrr...

Up Your Coolness Factor(sunglasses just don't cut it anymore)

There’s cool and then there’s you. Want to be cool, too? Better know the following:

#1: How to be a badass and break the new NYC subway rules.

#2: What Shakeskin is all about.

#3: Who Twelve Hawks is. He’s everywhere (yet no one can find him): the most brilliant book marketing campaign in … well, years.

Surveying the Cabbage Patch: I want … that one!

Expectant parents can now learn as early as 5 weeks into a pregnancy what the sex of the child is thanks to a lab that is offering over-the-counter gender tests. (Story here.) That’s right! You can try for the boy you’ve always wanted. And if you don’t get him, just throw out the baby with the bathwater.

I’m all for technology and progress. There’s some thought that a test similar to this one could be used to identify genetic diseases and other such inherited problems early in pregnancy. That’s important. But what value do we get from determining a baby’s sex at 5 weeks? Why not wait until 16 weeks, which is when most ultrasounds can begin to detect gendered physical traits.

The only benefit I can see is the ability to abort a child you don’t want based on sex—gender bias of the worst kind.

Moreover, the company is insisting it will only sell to U.S. addresses (to avoid supporting the gender bias already present in China and India). What’s to stop someone here from capitalizing on that, perhaps by purchasing 50 tests and then traveling to one of those counties and selling the device on the black market for 10 times its value.

What do you think: Is learning the sex of a child at 5 weeks a bad or good thing?

Flag Burning: Do We Really Need This Right?

I think I can safely say that I have no intention of ever burning a flag, particularly the American one. But really any flag in general is probably safe near me.

Republicans have proposed a bill that would make such an action (at least for the American flag) illegal. Should I even care? The law, on one level, will probably never affect me.

On the other side of the aisle, some Democrats worry that this infringes on our civil liberties. Flag burning was a widely reported form of protest in the 1960s to argue against continued involvement in the Vietnam War. People felt so strongly against what the federal government was doing, that they felt burning the most common symbol for Uncle Sam was the only way to explain their frustration.

Here’s my thinking: Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said about personal rights: “The right to swing my fist ends where the other man’s nose begins.”

I believe any removal of civil liberties should be guided by just such a thought. If it’s hurting others, then we must considering removing it. But who does it hurt if the flag is burned? Really! Who?

Body Surfing

On Sunday, I visited the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago and saw the Body Worlds exhibit. There were bodies everywhere. Real human bodies. And I’m not talking about the attendees.

Actual people had been preserved through some phenomenal process called Plastination. Their muscles, blackened lungs, tumor-ridden livers and arthritic spinal columns were all on display (along with perfectly healthy specimens).

I actually watched a man accidentally bump one of the bodies. It took me a second to register that he’d touched a former human being. Despite their intention of educating about the basic human form, these figures were fully dehumanized. It was so unreal to see the human body dead but not decayed that my mind refused to fully think of them as people.

The one exception was the fetus room. In there were unborn beings at different stages of development, including a woman with an 8-month fetus in her womb. There, a security guard happily answered questions, referring to a new figure that had just been added to a different part of the exhibit as “joining our family.” Spooky.

But looking at that mother, her skin gone, muscles and organs exposed along with the presence of a nearly full-grown child within her was truly sad. Two people had died so I could view that.

Of course, they weren’t murdered. In fact, the security guard said she’d willingly decided to give up her body for science. That didn’t stop one man from shivering as he walked out of that section.

This was all in the name of science and education of the masses. For East Coasters, the exhibit will come to Philadelphia starting in October. I’d say it’s worth checking out, but it may take me more than half a day to decide what I really feel about my day filled with people crowding around dead bodies and pointing.

Declarative Sentence o' the Morning

As for clothing, matching is for wusses.

Don't Assume You're Safe

Back to the posting board! I have some interesting information for all of you: more than 75,000 chemicals have been developed and produced in the United States. Due to that kind of volume, most do not even have the most basic toxicity testing.

Why should you care? These chemicals, including flame retardants in mattresses, Teflon on your pans and plastics in your takeout container, may leech into you. Children are particularly vulnerable (hence the growing asthma rates in kids). As is the breastmilk of women. Did you know Teflon pans should not be used at high heat because then they release toxins (kinda makes you wonder why they put Teflon on pans in the first place).

What can you do? Care just a little bit more about the potential chemicals you expose yourself to. Until enough consumers start thinking about these dangers and demanding changes, the problem will continue.

To learn more, read this brilliant (and a little scary) New York Times Magazine article.

p.s. for those who care, Cingular is sending me a new phone. Yay!

Cingular Makes Me Grumpy

20 minutes on the phone. What do I have to show for it? Someone has to call me back. My problems thus far:

• phone did not activate properly;
• voicemail did not activate properly;
• phone gives me an echo of my voice sometimes instead of answering calls; and
• I never received a welcome kit with my rebate information.
  

Solutions thus far:

• one phone call last Wednesday morning activated my phone;
• one phone call last Wednesday afternoon activated my voicemail; and
  
• one phone call today, transferred to three different people, means a second welcome kit will arrive in 3-5 business days. Phone still echos.
  

Lactivists: Your Time is Now!

This is outrageous! Women are being refused service when they’re breastfeeding. Barbara Walters made a negative comment about it, and now women are reacting. Thank goodness!

A New York Times article cites a statistic that 70 percent of women chose to breastfeed in 2003 (the last year for which data is available) up from 50 percent in 2000. What that doesn’t show you is how many women stop breastfeeding before 6 months, the recommended length of time for exclusive breastfeeding. Those numbers are still HUGE. The public pressure to stop breastfeeding and start using formula (which is still far from offering the benefits of a mother’s own milk) are great.

I believe asking a woman to stop breastfeeding is as bad as asking women to cover their heads in public. This is not wanton attempts by women to expose themselves, as one man quoted in the article suggests. It is a natural way of nourishing a child. It also happens to be the healthiest.

Babies who are breastfed are shown to be, on average, more intelligent than those that are not. They also receive much-needed antigens through their mother’s nourishment. Some researchers believe they grow at more natural rates and have a lower propensity for adult obesity, which may be its strongest selling point of all.

So please, even if the idea of public breastfeeding makes you squeamish, think what you’re asking the mother to do before you ask her to stop. You’re asking her to make her child less intelligent. You’re asking her to make her child less healthy. You’re asking her to make her child more likely to be overweight (and, linked to that, potentially have a higher risk for diabetes and heart disease).

No mother should be forced to accept those risks. Let’s protect our future now: encourage breastfeeding! And mothers, please insist on it!

I’m going to kick his girlfriend-dumping butt!

A study recently found that women demand better comforting skills of other women than they do of men.

Then the study’s lead author said something that surprised me: “If a friend recently broke up with her significant other, then it would be inappropriate to say, ‘You’re better off without him,’ ‘There are more important things to worry about,’ or ‘Don’t worry, there are more fish in the sea.’”

Here’s the thing: I’ve heard or given that comfort a dozen times. When a girl and her boyfriend break up, the first thing you do is give her a hug. Then you start calling him names and declare she now has the freedom to find the right guy for her. Then you say you’re taking her out for ladies night so she can meet all the other fish in the sea.

Or am I just a bad comforter?

451 Degrees

Get out your bonfires folks. We’ve got a list of the 10 Most Harmful Books of the 19^th and 20^th centuries offered up by the national conservative weekly Human Events.

Now I haven’t read any of these books on the list, perhaps its own embarrassing admission, but can a book really be harmful? The consequences might have been (communism clearly lead to some horrendous conditions in Russia and, still, China). The author might have been (hard to debate that when it comes to Hitler).

But how many lives have been taken in the name of the Bible? Or the Koran? Wouldn’t be politically correct to throw those books on there, though, now would it?

I don’t actually believe that books are innately harmful. They can affect cultures in powerful ways. But in saying that, I’ve just tripped down a conservative path (books don’t kill people; people kill people). So please prove me wrong. What books do you truly think are harmful, that should never have been published?