All posts by nedhamson
H5N1: US: A polio-like illness in California children
A polio-like illness in California children
This Los Angeles Times report gives me the creeps—not just because I had polio in LA 65 years ago, but because in a mercifully unfinished SF novel, I had a throwaway line about a disease called “Polio II”: Mysterious polio-like illnesses reported in some California children. Excerpt:
A small number of children in California have come down with polio-like illnesses since 2012 — suffering paralysis in one or more limbs and other symptoms — and physicians and public health officials do not yet know why.
Angelina Jolie & Whatsapp: Two Things That Were More Important To Lebanon Than Yesterday’s Suicide Bomber
A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares
The rhetoric lately when it comes to explosions and suicide bombers has become that of “we’ve become used to it.” People go about their business usually, not caring that people had just died and that suicide bombers being among us is not something that permits us to go about our business regularly.
On February 19th, 4 days ago, two bombs rocked Bir Hassan in Beirut’s Southern Suburb. 50 minutes after the news of the explosion broke out and all necessary politicians copy/pasted their required indignations and political messages, our president issued a message to a young twitter activist accepting his apology for some defamatory tweets. Nice gesture? Perhaps. Was it the proper time? I guess we can all agree it wasn’t.
There was a time when explosions taking place occupied our news for hours on end. Yesterday’s suicide bomber and the army men and civilians he killed only did so…
View original post 489 more words
The Conditioned – Osocio: Stories Cry for Happy story
Raimundo Arruda Sobrinho was homeless in São Paulo, Brazil, for nearly 35 years, and became locally known for sitting in the same spot and writing every day. In April 2011, he was befriended by a young woman named Shalla Monteiro. Impressed by his poetry and wanting to help him with his dream of publishing a book, she created a Facebook Page to feature Raimundo’s writing. Neither could have expected what happened next.
See more about Raimundo and his poetry on his Facebook Page maintained by Shalla: facebook.com/ocondicionado
This short film uses footage from a documentary about Raimundo shot in São Paulo in 2011 and 2012, along with interviews and scenes filmed in Goîana, Brazil, in January 2014.
VDU’s blog: Live bird market closures continue…
Aside #1: Poultry eggs are mainly produced by >1-billion birds in Henan, Shandong, Hebei, Liaoning, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Hubei, Anhui, Heilongjiang and Jilin (7,8) whereas >4-billion broiler chickens (bred for meat) are more concetrated in Shandong, Jiangsu, Guangxi, Liaoning, Guangdong, Anhui, Sichuan and Henan provinces (2,6,8,9,10,11,12,13).
Aside #2: An interesting to read (5,9) that the volume of chicken consumed per capita has risen by 9-fold or more in recent years – it has not always been the staple but is part of the tradition.
Umatilla Schimmel Sister Act Play on National Television – ESPNU on Sunday | Native News Online
The Umatilla sisters Shoni and Jude Schimmel, will play on national television Sunday at 3:00 p.m. – EST on ESPNU as their No. 3 Louisville Cardinals women’s basketball team play No. 25 Rutgers at the KFC YUM! Center in Louisville, Kentucky.
The last matchup was on Jan. 28 at Rutgers, resulting in an 80-71 win for the Cardinals. The game is the annual Pink Game and Tom Drexler will provide the first 2,000 fans that donate to the Gilda’s Club with a pink t-shirt. It is also the Louisville’s annual Spirit Day.
Louisville has a 26-2 overall record this season. In the American Athletic Conference, the team is 14-1.
The two Umatilla sisters won the hearts of many in Indian country as the Louisville team advanced to the NCAA Division 1 women’s basketball title game in April. The Schimmel sisters are the only American Indians to ever play in a NCAA Division 1 basketball title game. They are tribal citizens of the Confederated Tribe of Umatilla Indians, based in Pendleton, Oregon.
via Umatilla Schimmel Sister Act Play on National Television – ESPNU on Sunday | Native News Online.
Yellowstone Begins 2014 Wild Bison Slaughter – Sickening – S | Native News Online
Brucellosis is the reason used by Yellowstone to justify the slaughter of wild bison. There has never been a documented case of wild bison transmitting the livestock disease to cattle. Other wildlife, such as elk, also carry brucellosis and are known to have transmitted it, yet they are free to migrate, and even commingle with cattle with no consequence.
Year after year, Yellowstone and Montana officials executing the ill-conceived Interagency Bison Management Plan forcibly prevent wild bison’s natural migration with hazing, capture, slaughter, quarantine and hunting. Millions of U.S. tax dollars are wasted annually under activities carried out under the IBMP.
The wild bison of the Yellowstone region are America’s last continuously wild population. Like other migratory wildlife, bison cross Yellowstone’s ecologically insignificant boundaries in order to access the habitat they need for survival. During 2007-2008 more than 1,300 wild bison were captured in Yellowstone National Park and shipped to slaughter.
Nearly 7,200 wild bison have been eliminated from America’s last wild population since 1985. Bison once spanned the North American continent, but today, fewer than 4,400 wild bison exist, confined to the man-made boundaries of Yellowstone National Park and consequently are ecologically extinct throughout their native range.
via Yellowstone Begins 2014 Wild Bison Slaughter | Native News Online.
Anouk – You & I – YouTube
Night Falls on New Ukraine; Parliament Dismisses President Viktor Yanukovych – The Wire
According to the Interfax news agency, President Viktor Yanukovych tried to board a plane to Russia, but was stopped and turned back by border officials. Meanwhile, opposition lawmaker Oleksandr Turchynov was chosen as the new speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, making the de facto head of state.
Ahead of Turchynov’s selection, parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Rybak, an ally of Yanukovych, handed in his resignation and a number of opposition ministers were appointed to key government posts on Saturday afternoon, a signal of Yanukovych’s waning power.
Following her release from a prison hospital, former prime minister and opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko traveled to Kiev and addressed a 50,000-person crowd at Independence Square.
via Night Falls on New Ukraine; Parliament Dismisses President Viktor Yanukovych – The Wire.
Kyiv medic Olesya survives sniper bullet through neck | euronews, news +
Olesya Zhukovska is still alive, the 21-year-old first aid volunteer who tweeted “I’m dying” to those closest to her.
The next day they got another message: her gratitude for their prayers. She said, ‘I’m in hospital, in stable condition.’
On Thursday, a bullet went through Zhukovska’s neck. She had been standing where Institutska Street meets Independence Square (Maidan) in the Ukrainian capital. As she was bleeding heavily, she sent the tweet. But she was operated on in time.
We got news about her from the head of the volunteer medical service in Maidan, Oleh Musiy.
On the phone with euronews, Musiy said: “After she is transferred from intensive care to a regular room in the hospital, I hope she can finish her treatment with us, until her life is no longer in danger. The wound in her neck was serious. What we see with Olesya and the people who were killed yesterday and whose bodies we helped transfer to the pathologists, is that 70-80 percent of them had gunshot wounds in the head or neck.”
via Kyiv medic Olesya survives sniper bullet through neck | euronews, news +.




You must be logged in to post a comment.