All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

ROTFLMAO Friday! Let the 2016 rumors begin: Sen. Portman heading to New Hampshire | www.journal-news.com

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who has been considering a bid for the presidency in 2016, will speak on Aug. 26 at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire at what organizers are calling an eggs and politics breakfast.

via Let the 2016 rumors begin: Sen. Portman heading to New Hampshire | www.journal-news.com.

Eat Drink Better | Healthy recipes, good food: sustainable eats for a healthy lifestyle!

Here’s the number one problem with processed food: it’s so processed that we can’t really identify its origins. Especially when we’re talking about processed meat, which is pretty darn gnarly. Photographer Peter Augustus just changed all that.

Texas-born and now Hong Kong based, Augustus took photographs showing the unappetizing origins of processed meat including chicken nuggets, hot dogs and ham.

Only, in Augustus’ photos, he illuminates the unprocessed ingredients such as chicken feet, pig snouts and intestines that are commonly found in these items.

via Eat Drink Better | Healthy recipes, good food: sustainable eats for a healthy lifestyle!.

Spin News for Freakout Friday – Huge asteroid that ‘could wipe out human life’ heading for Earth, scientists say – The Times of India

They were studying Asteroid 1950 DA, which has a one in 300 chance of hitting the planet on March 16, 2880.

via Huge asteroid that ‘could wipe out human life’ heading for Earth, scientists say – The Times of India.

Gaza death toll hits 1,980 as dozens succumb to war wounds | Maan News Agency

A Ministry of Health official warned Friday that the death toll in Gaza was expected to continue to rise as dozens succumbed to wounds sustained during the offensive and more bodies were recovered under the rubble of homes.

Healthy ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said that the death toll had hit 1,980 on Friday with at least 10,181 injured.

Dozens have been added to the death count despite a fragile calm maintained through back-to-back ceasefires in recent weeks.

Al-Qidra said that many of those injured are still in a critical condition, and are not expected to survive their wounds.

The low survival rate is also due in part to the continued lack of appropriate medical supplies and facilities for injured patients, while 18-hour

daily power cuts and a lack of fuel for generators aggravate the condition of those hospitals still functioning.

via Gaza death toll hits 1,980 as dozens succumb to war wounds | Maan News Agency.

Missouri Unrest Leaves the Right Torn Over Views on Law vs. Order – NYTimes.com

{In the late 1950s and 1960s, Governors and sheriffs in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Arkansas used the terms outside agitators and pinkos/reds/commies (communists) for those who advocated for ending segregated schools, stores, restaurants, rest rooms, buses, theaters, water fountains, as well as laws that kept Black Americans from voting, or seeking employment. So I guess, it is clear which side Sean Hannity is on: allow segregation, use dogs, fire hoses, chains, clubs, guns, gas, and false arrest on anyone who disagrees with official racial biases and profiling}

In much of the conservative news media, the protesters in Ferguson are being portrayed as “outside agitators,” in the words of Sean Hannity, the Fox News host.

via Missouri Unrest Leaves the Right Torn Over Views on Law vs. Order – NYTimes.com.

VDU’s blog: Ebola virus may be spread by droplets, but not by an airborne route: what that means

Included in guidelines issued by the WHO (7) and CDC (5) is the need for droplet precautions (Figure). This is very important for healthcare workers, family and other caregivers who stay close and are frequently exposed for lengthy periods of time with severely ill, highly virulent cases of EVD. These cases may actively propel infectious droplets containing vomit and blood across the short distances separating them from caregivers. But this is a form of direct transmission, and is not airborne transmission.

Messaging the masses.

Leaving aside other issues around acquiring a rare disease like Ebola when outside of the current outbreak region, the case definitions and risk assessments have raised confusion. There are questions around how otherwise apparently well-protected healthcare workers in West Africa are acquiring an EBOV. For a virus described as spreading only through direct contact, recommendations for the use of masks, implying airborne spread to many, fuel such questions.  In fact, face protection is recommended to prevent infectious droplets landing on vulnerable membranes (mouth and eyes).

It’s important to pass a message that is correct, but also to ensure distrust does not result from a public reading apparently contradictory literature. Such distrust and real concern have been rampant among a hyperactive social media. Simple, clear phrases like “ebolaviruses cannot be caught from around a corner”, may help uncomplicate the communication lines. And it works on Twitter.

via VDU’s blog: Ebola virus may be spread by droplets, but not by an airborne route: what that means.

‘Good Dad’ Dies After Deputy Tases Him, Everyone Who Knew Him Says They Had The Wrong Guy: LAist

Deputies stopped Parker, who was cycling nearby on Luna Road, around 5 p.m. to question him. The Sheriff’s Dept. said in a press release that the deputy there believed that Parker was possibly “under the influence of an unknown substance,” and that he became “uncooperative and combative.”

NBC Los Angeles reported that Parker allegedly fought a female deputy, leaving bruises on her arms, and she tased Parker multiple times. She and another deputy say they struggled with Parker before they handcuffed him and put him the backseat of the patrol car. They noticed that he was sweating and having trouble breathing, so they called a medical aid to treat him, and then they had an ambulance take him to a hospital, where he died.

“That whole story is totally wrong; that’s just not Dante,” Richard Loredo, a former coworker of Parker’s, told Daily Press. “Dante’s not a burglar … You can see how well his kids were raised; he was a good dad. For the police department to portray him like that is … unfair.”

Parker’s father, Darrell Parker, told NBC Los Angeles: “He was a big, gentle guy. So I don’t understand it. I’m at a loss for words. I miss him already.”

Parker is survived by his wife and five children, including four girls from the ages of 8 to 19, and a 5-year-old boy.

The Sheriff’s Dept. is investigating Parker’s death and have arranged for an autopsy to determine the cause of his death.

via ‘Good Dad’ Dies After Deputy Tases Him, Everyone Who Knew Him Says They Had The Wrong Guy: LAist.

10,000 Israelis demand end to rocket attacks | wft News

two Israelis and a Thai agricultural worker since the fighting began.

At least 1,962 Palestinians, of whom the United Nations says 72 percent were civilians, have also died alongside 64 Israeli soldiers.

via 10,000 Israelis demand end to rocket attacks | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR.

Some one having a little trouble with what’s intolerable. Peace is necessary for everyone – not further occupation or extermination of Palestinians.

Afghan Women’s Writing Project | Biking on the Streets of Kabul

On our second group bike ride in Darlaman, an old man stopped us. To be honest, all of us were scared, but he told us: “You girls raise Afghanistan’s flag. Foreigners will change their minds about Afghanistan when they see you biking around. Let me tell you something, I am in charge of that park right there and I am not allowed to let bicycles inside, but today is a good day, and I am proud of you so I can make an exception!”

These encouragements help us to ignore the judgmental looks from others. Although many people in Afghanistan think a good Muslim girl should never sit on a bike, there are still people who give us a pat on our shoulders. We decided we would smile back at people who encourage us, rather than give up from the harassment that we receive from others. Although it can be a little bit scary to ride in public, if a girl has the courage to ride a bike, the chances that she will be stopped or physically hurt is very low.

I think the most important thing for girls is to take action. There is nothing in either the Qur’an or in our Constitution forbidding girls to ride a bike, so I believe girls should take advantage of biking.

People often ask me why I want to go biking. I tell them it is to make bike riding for girls a part of our culture. Some girls have to walk a long distance to get to their destination and it’s much faster on a bike. Afghanistan doesn’t offer girls many sport options and biking can serve as a perfect option for exercising.

It is unbelievable that in countries like Afghanistan we have to fight to make bike riding for girls acceptable for people or we have to have a complicated philosophy behind simply riding. My generation has to fight, but I hope our next generation gets the right to bike in Kabul freely.

I hope one day the domination of one sex in an activity stops, because a society really develops when both men and women can participate in all the activities. If bike riding for girls is not acceptable for people, it means we have a long way to civilization. Let girls bike, and civilization will be right in front of our doors.

via Afghan Women’s Writing Project | Biking on the Streets of Kabul.