Archive for June, 2009
Health Insurers Want You To Keep Smoking
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Brendan Borrell, Scientific American: Health and life insurance companies in the U.S. and abroad have nearly $4.5 billion invested in tobacco stocks, according to Harvard doctors.
“It’s the combined taxidermist and veterinarian approach: either way you get your dog back,” says David Himmelstein, an internist at the Harvard Medical School and co-author of a letter published in this week’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
The largest tobacco investor on the list, the 160-year old Prudential company with branches in the U.S. and the U.K., has more than $1.5 billion invested in tobacco stocks. The runner-up was Toronto-based Sun Life Financial, which apparently holds over $1 billion in Philip Morris (Altria) and other tobacco stocks. In total, seven companies that sell life, health, disability, or long-term care insurance, have major holdings in tobacco stock.
Why is it a big deal? “If you own a billion dollars [of tobacco stock], then you…
Skin Deep: A Safety Guide to Cosmetics and Personal Care Products
Skin Deep is a safety guide to cosmetics and personal care products brought to you by researchers at the Environmental Working Group.
Skin Deep pairs ingredients in more than 41,000 products against 50 definitive toxicity and regulatory databases, making it the largest integrated data resource of its kind. Why did a small nonprofit take on such a big project? Because the FDA doesn’t require companies to test their own products for safety.
Get started here to learn what’s in your personal care products…
The Top 10 Most Absurd ‘Time’ Covers of The Past 40 Years
Jeff Winkler & Radley Balko, REASON: Since the British sociologist Stanley Cohen defined the moral panic phenomenon in the early 1970s as hysterical overreactions to imagined threats to social order, no publication has done a better (by which we mean worse) job of scaring the crap out of post-baby boomer America than Time, the top-selling newsweekly that’s dropping subscribers like the mythical meth mouth drops teeth. (Hot tip to Time: If you’re looking for a cutting-edge panic to get those ad rates up again, we hear people have been freaking out about “sexting” lately.)
As a service to future historians of the long, slow death of the newsweekly, Reason offers this Top 10 list of the most horrifying, silly, irresponsible, or downright ridiculous Time cover panics from the past 40 years.
‘Shrooms Bound for Bonnaroo Seized in Murfreesboro
Nearly 35 pounds of Psilocybin (hallucinogenic) mushrooms baked into about 500 chocolate peanut butter cups were intercepted by Murfreesboro Police vice detectives before being sold at Bonnaroo music festival beginning Thursday in Manchester.
Vice detectives Wednesday raided the Kingwood Drive home of suspect Charles Culver, 22, and located the illegal drug with a street value of $10,000, said police spokesman Kyle Evans.
“We have seen an increase in LSD over the past several years and this is another form or substitute for that drug,” Evans said.
“The affects are hallucinogenic in nature, similar to LSD. They are very dangerous and there have been incidents of people dying the first time they used this drug.”
Origin of the mushrooms is not being disclosed.
A Microcosm of Israel/Palestine
Stand-up comedian Danny Mendlow delves into the Israel/Palestine conflict, as well as talking about racism, tolerance and the biggest issue facing humanity.
Part 1
Part 2
Solar System’s Planets Could Spin Out of Control
Stephen Battersby, New Scientist: The solar system’s clockwork motion is by no means guaranteed: one day the Earth could collide with Venus or tear Mars apart in a close encounter, a new simulation has shown.
We know that the apparently reliable orbits of the planets are unstable in the long run, because their weak gravitational effects on one another can add up in unpredictable ways. Technically, the system is chaotic. Could this very mild chaos lead to disaster?
Mercury is the key to catastrophe. It is especially susceptible to Jupiter’s influence because of a small celestial coincidence: Mercury’s perihelion, the point where it gets closest to the sun, slowly moves around at a rate of about 1.5 degrees every 1000 years, and Jupiter’s perihelion moves around only a little slower. One day, the two will probably fall into sync, at which time Jupiter’s incessant gravitational tugs could accumulate and pull Mercury off…
Shepard Smith Calls Out ‘More and More Frightening’ Fox E-mailers
Fox News, June 10, 2009:
Is Aging Optional? Aubrey de Grey Thinks So
Daily Galaxy: Aubrey de Grey is 44 years old, going on 1,000. He says old age is optional and why any rational being would choose it, is nuts. But others think de Grey is the one who’s “nuts”. Even so, no one has been able to show that de Grey does not have plausible scientific theory on his side. His well-thought argument that some people alive today could live in a robust and youthful state for 1,000 years is theoretically possible. Possible maybe, but will it happen?
There are people with a lot of money who are betting that it can happen — if the cause gets enough funding. In fact, they’re willing to support the “mad” scientist in his ambitious goal to end ageing for mankind. De Grey, whose original academic field is in computer science and artificial intelligence, has become the darling of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who believe changing…
Stephen Colbert Debates Stephen Colbert in Iraq on the Military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Policy
The Colbert Report’s Formidable Opponent: In this clip, George H.W. Bush remembers the stars of WWII, and Stephen stresses the importance of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy to Stephen.
Krauthammer: “Fox News Created an Alternate Reality”
On Tuesday Charles Krauthammer received the NY Posts’ Award for Excellence in Opinion Journalism, and in his acceptance speech went wildly off-message to provide a glimpse into the twisted psyche of a Fox News commentator.
“What Fox did is not just create a venue for alternative opinion. It created an alternate reality.
A few years ago, I was on a radio show with a well-known political reporter who lamented the loss of a pristine past in which the whole country could agree on what the facts were, even if they disagreed on how to interpret and act upon them. All that was gone now. The country had become so fractured we couldn’t even agree on what reality was.
That’s why Fox News is so resented. It altered the intellectual and ideological landscape of America. It gave not only voice but also legitimacy to a worldview that had been utterly excluded from the mainstream…
Phil Spector Unplugged
Now that he is a ward of the California state prison system, wig-loving murderer Phil Spector has been forced to return to his au naturel state.
As seen in the below mug shot, the 69-year-old Spector’s dome is no longer covered by one of the fright wigs he wore during his criminal trials (the most recent of which ended in the music producer’s conviction for killing actress Lana Clarkson in February 2003).
Spector, who was sentenced last month to 19 years in prison, was photographed after arriving last week at the North Kern State Prison Reception Center in Delano.
Insurance Company CEO Compensation: Obscene
CEOs rake in the big bucks from the huge profits they take in as health-insurance costs have skyrocketed.
FierceHealthcare reports the following top 10 CEO salaries for 2008:
* Ron Williams – Aetna – Total Compensation: $24,300,112.
* H. Edward Hanway – CIGNA – Total Compensation: $12,236,740.
* Angela Braly – WellPoint – Total Compensation: $9,844,212.
* Dale Wolf – Coventry Health Care – Total Compensation: $9,047,469.
* Michael Neidorff – Centene – Total Compensation: $8,774,483.
* James Carlson – AMERIGROUP – Total Compensation: $5,292,546.
* Michael McCallister – Humana – Total Compensation: $4,764,309.
* Jay Gellert – Health Net – Total Compensation: $4,425,355.
* Richard Barasch – Universal American – Total Compensation: $3,503,702.
* Stephen Hemsley – UnitedHealth Group – Total Compensation: $3,241,042.
World Health Organization Declares Global Swine Flu Pandemic
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a global flu pandemic after holding an emergency meeting, according to reports.
It means the swine flu virus is spreading in at least two regions of the world with rising cases being seen in the UK, Australia, Japan and Chile. The move does not necessarily mean the virus is causing more severe illness or more deaths.
The swine flu (H1N1) virus first emerged in Mexico in April. It has since spread to 74 countries. Official reports say there have been 28,000 cases globally and 141 deaths and figures are rising daily.
Molesting Priests Dealt With In ‘Secrecy,’ Local Church Leader Says…
The Rev. Michael G. Ryan, the longtime pastor at St. James Cathedral and former top aide in the Seattle Archdiocese, took the witness stand Thursday, where he described how the local Catholic church once dealt with child-molesting priests: In a “cloak of secrecy” and with the belief that sexual abusers were treatable.
“With the hindsight we have now, we would never have done the things we did,” Ryan told jurors. “We made mistakes, for which we are sorry.”
But he denied any legal responsibility in the case now pending against the Archdiocese, in which two men abused by their priest allege that the church knew — or should have known — that the priest was a predator. Filed in King County Superior Court, the case is the first sex-abuse claim against the Archdiocese to go to trial.
Venezuela Bans Coke Zero As Health Risk
The Venezuelan government of U.S.-critic President Hugo Chavez on Wednesday ordered Coca-Cola Co to withdraw its Coke Zero beverage from the South American nation, citing unspecified dangers to health.
The decision follows a wave of nationalizations and increased scrutiny of businesses in South America’s top oil exporter.
Health Minister Jesus Mantilla said the zero-calorie Coke Zero should no longer be sold and stocks of the drink removed from store shelves.
“The product should be withdrawn from circulation to preserve the health of Venezuelans,” the minister said in comments reported by the government’s news agency.
Afghan Star: The Documentary
After 30 years of war and Taliban rule, pop Idol has come to Afghanistan. Millions are watching the TV series Afghan Star and voting for their favorite singers by mobile phone.
For many this is their first encounter with democracy. This timely film follows the dramatic stories of four contestants as they risk all to become the nation’s favorite singer. But will they attain the freedom they hope for in this vulnerable and traditional nation?
Problems Are Solved By Sleeping
BBC News:Sleeping on a problem really can help solve it, say scientists who found a dreamy nap boosts creative powers.
They tested whether “incubating” a problem allowed a flash of insight, and found it did, especially when people entered a phase of sleep known as REM.
Volunteers who had entered REM or rapid eye movement sleep — when most dreams occur – were then better able to solve a new problem with lateral thinking.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has published the US work: “We propose that REM sleep is important for assimilating new information into past experience to create a richer network of associations for future use.”
In the morning of the test day, 77 volunteers were given a series of creative problems to solve and were told to mull over the problem until the afternoon either by resting but staying awake or by taking a nap monitored by the scientists.…
Six Characters Who Escaped Virtual Prisons … Or Did They?
Alasdair Wilkins, io9.com: It’s the ultimate test for any hero: finding yourself trapped in a prison of the mind, where you can no longer tell the difference between reality and falsehood. Here are six science-fiction heroes who escaped from virtual reality … probably. Spoilers ahead!
1. Douglas Quaid, Total Recall
The Setup: After visiting Rekall in the hopes of going on a virtual vacation of Mars, unassuming nobody Douglas Quaid learns he’s actually Hauser, a mindwiped secret agent. He then proceeds to get his ass to Mars, whereupon he becomes embroiled in a tangled web involving evil government operatives, psychic mutants, ancient aliens, and triple-breasted prostitutes. It’s all very tense and exciting until a man claiming to from Rekall shows up to point out this is all just the memory implant he ordered gone horribly wrong.
Quaid dismisses this possibility, but the question remains — did he ever actually make it out of Rekall?
