The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank’s Chairwoman Ms. Yellen has recently called for more authority to intervene in markets during an economic downturn. Ms. Yellen understands that Central Banks need to have a larger role for purchasing any and all distressed assets in an economy.
The ability of a Central Bank to buy any assets can lead to a fair-market economy. Free markets are unpredictable in their boom-and-bust cycles. The poor get poorer; whereby, the wealthy actually gain from any market downturns. During a free-market downturn, the wealthy load up on cheap assets and just get richer during the following recovery. Conspiracy theorists would even claim that the top 1% cause these market downturns so that they can load up on the cheap. After all, these wealthy capitalists have a motive. The job of our Central Banking system is to promote the public interest and Central Banks should take on the role of creating a fair-market economy in which everyone prospers.
A fair market is a market wherein the value of a property or any asset is based on what an unpressured buyer would pay to an unpressured seller in the market. A fair market is when property changes hands between a willing buyer and a willing seller, neither being under any compulsion to buy nor to sell and both having reasonable knowledge of relevant facts.
The opposition is a free market. In a free market, capitalist forces are at work which lead to boom-and-bust cycles whereby market participants are forced to sell their assets in liquidations, foreclosures or to meet margin calls. In a market downturn, Central Banks should buy any distressed assets in the economy ensuring that noone is under any pressure nor compulsion to sell at a loss. A fair economy is an economy wherein noone loses.
A free market also allows wealthy capitalists to rip off the poor; on the other hand, a fair market protects consumers against capitalist greed. In a fair market, the Government has the role of ensuring the consumer is protected.
Free markets cause inequality. Inequality has never been higher! The gap between rich and poor has never been wider. According to faireconomy.org, this inequality has been intentional:
“In many cases, periods of economic growth have resulted in greater equality, as in the 1950-70s. Over the past few decades, however, the benefits of a growing economy have been concentrated in an extremely narrow elite at the very top.”
They go on to claim that the exclusion of people of color from the middle class was also intentional. “Federal programs for the middle class have been essentially unavailable to people of color.”
Obviously we have a huge challenge before us to correct these inequalities and to move toward a fair-market economy. Governments need to better recognize when their proposed policies pander to the privileged at the expense of the underprivileged. Only a wise Government can lead us to a fair-market economy by implementing policies which abolish Capitalism and hinder free-market forces.
The current Administration has gone a long way to correct the inequalities caused by former administrations. Under President Obama’s leadership, the U.S. has partially recovered from the damage done by Reaganomics and the Bush Dynasty. Our President was wise to promote Ms. Yellen to the position of Fed Chairwoman. He cited her understanding of the high “human costs” of unemployment when he nominated her to Chair the Federal Reserve. Ms. Yellen has proven her ability to connect economic theory to everyday life.
Governments and Central Banks (worldwide) need to better represent public interest by adopting pro-worker policies in place of pro-banker policies.
The USA, although a strong nation, cannot abolish economic inequality alone. Unfair markets are a global calamity and the problem needs to be resolved on a global scale. A fair market would put people and planet first. Hazardous energy sources like fossil fuels would be eliminated and green energies promoted. Under a capitalist, free-market system there is no incentive to implement nor repair infrastructure in minority neighborhoods. A fair market system would be inclusive for all. Ms. Clinton has called for a huge infrastructure investment and urged for aggressive spending on green energy.
Hillary Clinton has also said she wants an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top. Ms. Clinton will provide a strong government hand for creating fair-paying jobs by simultaneously driving up wages. Governments and Central Banks (worldwide) need to better represent public interest by adopting pro-worker policies in place of pro-banker policies. Interest rates should be kept low to promote growth and to prioritize policies which promote full employment and rising wages.
How do we create a fair economy with fair markets? Everyone, especially the underprivileged, should receive a basic wage — a living wage at the low end and a maximum income at the high end. A fair plan is to increase minimum wages and to lower top earnings.
We have everything we need to build a fair economy: natural resources, skilled people, modern technology; however, often the money to finance our visions is lacking. In a fair economy, Central Banking takes on the role of providing financing for new ideas so that all market participants can fulfill their dreams. People would not have to rely on the privilege of family inheritance nor a valuable family equity to back a loan in order to finance their visions. The Central Bank should take on a larger role toward promoting growth in a fair-market economy by providing financing, not only for the privileged, but also for the disadvantaged.
International trade agreements make economies fair on a global scale. A stronger UN governance mandate for the World’s economies is needed as well. Obama has done so well leading the US, he is a natural candidate to lead the World Economy on a global scale. The UN along with the World’s Central Banks need to cooperate to create a global, fair-market economy.


artificial satellite that functions as part of a global radio-communications network. Echo 1, the first communications satellite, launched in 1960, was an instrumented inflatable sphere that passively reflected radio signals back to earth. Later satellites carried with them electronic devices for receiving, amplifying, and rebroadcasting signals to earth. Relay 1, launched in 1962 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), was the basis for Telstar 1, a commercially sponsored experimental satellite. Geosynchronous orbits (in which the satellite remains over a single spot on the earth's surface) were first used by NASA's Syncom series and Early Bird (later renamed Intelsat 1), the world's first commercial communications satellite.
In 1962, the U.S. Congress passed the Communications Satellite Act, which led to the creation of the Communications Satellite Corporation (Comsat). Agencies from 17 other countries joined Comsat in 1964 in forming the International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium (Intelsat) for the purpose of establishing a global commercial communications network. Renamed the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (ITSO) in 1974, the organization transferred its satellite network to a private corporation, Intelsat, Ltd., in 2001. Intelsat now operates network of more than 50 satellites to provide global telecommunications. It has orbited several series of Intelsat satellites. ITSO continues to oversee the public service obligations of Intelsat.
Inmarsat was established in 1979 to serve the maritime industry by developing satellite communications for ship management and distress and safety applications. Inmarsat was originally an intergovernmental organization called the International Maritime Satellite Organization but later changed its name to the International Mobile Satellite Organization to reflect its expansion into land, mobile, and aeronautical communications. In 1999 its telecommunications operations became a private company as Inmarsat, and the International Mobile Satellite Organization became responsible for overseeing Inmarsat's public service obligations. Inmarsat's users now include thousands of people who live or work in remote areas without reliable terrestrial networks. Inmarsat presently has more than ten satellites in geosynchronous orbits.
In addition to the Intelsat and Inmarsat satellites, many others are in orbit, some managed by private companies and others by government-owned operators. These are used by individual countries, organizations, and commercial ventures for internal communications or for business or military use. A new generation of satellites, called direct-broadcast satellites, transmits directly to small domestic antennas to provide such services as cablelike television programming.
- See Principles of Communications Satellites (1993);. ,
- Communications Satellites, 1958–1995 (1996);. ,
- B. G. Evans, ed., Satellite Communication Systems (3d ed. 1999).
An unmanned artificial satellite by which long-distance television broadcasting, telephone communications, and computer data links are...
(Comsat), organization incorporated (1962) by an act of Congress to establish a commercial system of international communications using artificial sa
Of the many benefits gained from space enterprises, telecommunications was the first commercially viable industry to develop. The creation of a...


We’ve long known that Mars has water trapped in its polar ice caps, but just how wet the planet was billions of years ago, and what that means for supporting life, is still a hot topic. The predominant theory is that Mars was once a warm and wet planet, but a new study has effectively thrown cold water on that, instead positing early Mars was covered in ice sheets, not flowing rivers.
The warm and wet ancient Mars hypothesis suggests that rivers, oceans, and rainfall once existed on Mars. One of the main pieces of evidence put forward is the vast network of valleys in Mars’ southern hemisphere. These look very similar to Earth’s river drainage basins, which are carved by surface water runoff from rain, sleet, and snow forming rivers as they run downslope from nearby mountains.
Mars’s valleys formed around 3.5 to 3.9 billion years ago. If they were indeed carved by flowing rivers, this means that Mars’s climate back then was warm and wet, which increases the chance of it supporting life. However, a new study in Nature Geoscience, led by Anna Grau Galofre from the University of British Columbia, claims that on closer inspection these valleys have more in common with subglacial channels in the Canadian Arctic and were instead carved by water melting beneath glacial ice, not rivers.
"For the last 40 years, since Mars's valleys were first discovered, the assumption was that rivers once flowed on Mars, eroding and originating all of these valleys," explained Grau Galofre in a statement. "But there are hundreds of valleys on Mars, and they look very different from each other. If you look at Earth from a satellite you see a lot of valleys: some of them made by rivers, some made by glaciers, some made by other processes, and each type has a distinctive shape. Mars is similar, in that valleys look very different from each other, suggesting that many processes were at play to carve them."
It was the similarities between many of these Martian valleys and the subglacial channels on Devon Island in Nanuvet, the most northerly territory in Canada, that led Grau Galofre and colleagues to explore this possible explanation.
"Devon Island is one of the best analogs we have for Mars here on Earth – it is a cold, dry, polar desert, and the glaciation is largely cold-based," said co-author Dr Gordon Osinski, a professor in the department of earth sciences and the Institute for Earth and Space Exploration at Western University.
The team analyzed the shape of more than 10,000 Martian valleys using data gathered from the Mars Global Surveyor, which surveyed the planet between 1996 and 2006. One of its instruments, the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter, measured the heights of the planet’s surface features by shooting infrared laser pulses at it. By looking at the physical features of the valleys, Grau Galofre determined that though some valleys had features that suggested they were carved by running rivers, many looked like they had been carved by glaciers too, suggesting vast ice sheets covered the planet at some point.
This finding adds weight to the “cold and icy ancient Mars” theory. "Climate modeling predicts that Mars' ancient climate was much cooler during the time of valley network formation," Grau Galofre said. "We tried to put everything together and bring up a hypothesis that hadn't really been considered: that channels and valleys networks can form under ice sheets, as part of the drainage system that forms naturally under an ice sheet when there's water accumulated at the base."
More recently, the idea that Mars started off with a warm and wet climate that gradually got colder has gained traction, which would also explain the valleys formed by both rivers and glaciers on Mars, we just don't know what exactly might have changed the climate billions of years ago. However, the formation of these valleys coincides with the loss of Mars' magnetic field some 3.7 billion years ago.


Assignment: you will write an analysis on the story young goodman brown remember, an analytical paper breaks down an issue or an idea into. Nathaniel hawthorne's 'young goodman brown' is a short story that's rich in meaning in this lesson, we'll go over the plot points, themes. Nathaniel hawthorne's young goodman brown lesson plans include analysis, vocabulary, allegory, & visual summary activity that brings this eerie tale to life.
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Maurice James Dease, British Army officer during World War I, dies in Mons, Belgium on August 23, 1914. He is one of the first British officer battle casualties of the war and the first posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross in the war.
Dease is born on September 28, 1889 in Gaulstown, Coole, County Westmeath to Edmund Fitzlaurence and Katherine Murray Dease. He is educated at Stonyhurst College and the Army Department of Wimbledon College before attending the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He is 24 years old, and a lieutenant in the 4th Battalion, the Royal Fusiliers, and is awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions on 23 August 1914, at Mons, Belgium.
Nimy Bridge is being defended by a single company of the 4th Royal Fusiliers and a machine-gun section with Dease in command. The gunfire is intense and the casualties very heavy, but the lieutenant continues to fire in spite of his wounds, until he is hit for the fifth time and is carried away.
Dease wins the first Victoria Cross to be awarded in the Great War and he receives it on the first day of the first significant British encounter in that war.
When Lieutenant Dease has been mortally wounded, Private Sidney Godley offers to defend the Railway Bridge while the rest of the section retreats and is also awarded the Victoria Cross. He is taken prisoner of war.
Dease is buried at St. Symphorien Military Cemetery, 2 kilometres east of Mons, Belgium. He is remembered with a plaque under the Nimy Railway Bridge, Mons and in Westminster Cathedral. His name is on the wayside cross in Woodchester, Stroud, Gloucestershire, on a cross at Exton, Rutland and on a plaque installed in St. Martin’s Church, Culmullen, County Meath. His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Royal Fusiliers Museum in the Tower of London. Victoria Cross holders are being honoured with commemorative paving stones. Dease’s is the first to be unveiled on August 23, 2014 at Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.
Dease is portrayed in the BBC Three series Our World War (2014) by Dominic Thorburn.


Flashing Yellow Light Means was posted at February 1, 2018 at 8:57 pm. This image is uploaded in the Lighting category. Flashing Yellow Light Means is labelled with Flashing Yellow Light Means, Flashing, Yellow, Light, Means..
Flashingflash•ing (flash′ing),USA pronunciation n.
- pieces of sheet metal or the like used to cover and protect certain joints and angles, as where a roof comes in contact with a wall or chimney, esp. against leakage.
- the act of creating an artificial flood in a conduit or stream, as in a sewer for cleansing it.
- the process of increasing film speed by exposing undeveloped film briefly to a weak light source before using it or of exposing photographic printing paper to reduce contrast.
Yellowyel•low (yel′ō),USA pronunciation n., adj., -er, -est, v.
- a color like that of egg yolk, ripe lemons, etc.;
the primary color between green and orange in the visible spectrum, an effect of light with a wavelength between 570 and 590 nm.
- the yolk of an egg.
- a yellow pigment or dye.
- See yellow light.
- [Slang.]See yellow jacket (def. 2).
- of the color yellow.
- [Often Offensive.]
- designating or pertaining to an Oriental person or Oriental peoples.
- designating or pertaining to a person of mixed racial origin, esp. of black and white heritage, whose skin is yellowish or yellowish brown.
- having a sallow or yellowish complexion.
- (of journalism, a newspaper, etc.)
- sensational, esp. morbidly or offensively so: That yellow rag carried all the gory details.
- dishonest in editorial comment and the presentation of news, esp. in sacrificing truth for sensationalism: Objective reporting isn't always a match for yellow journalism.
- to make or become yellow: Yellow the sheets with dye. The white stationery had yellowed with age.
Lightlight1 (līt),USA pronunciation n., adj., -er, -est, v., light•ed or lit, light•ing.
- something that makes things visible or affords illumination: All colors depend on light.
- Also called luminous energy, radiant energy. electromagnetic radiation to which the organs of sight react, ranging in wavelength from about 400 to 700 nm and propagated at a speed of 186,282 mi./sec (299,972 km/sec), considered variously as a wave, corpuscular, or quantum phenomenon.
- a similar form of radiant energy that does not affect the retina, as ultraviolet or infrared rays.
- the sensation produced by stimulation of the organs of sight.
- an illuminating agent or source, as the sun, a lamp, or a beacon.
- the radiance or illumination from a particular source: the light of a candle.
- the illumination from the sun;
daylight: We awoke at the first light.
- daybreak or dawn: when light appeared in the east.
- daytime: Summer has more hours of light.
- a particular light or illumination in which an object seen takes on a certain appearance: viewing the portrait in dim light.
- a device for or means of igniting, as a spark, flame, or match: Could you give me a light?
- a traffic light: Don't cross till the light changes.
- the aspect in which a thing appears or is regarded: Try to look at the situation in a more cheerful light.
- the state of being visible, exposed to view, or revealed to public notice or knowledge;
limelight: Stardom has placed her in the light.
- a person who is an outstanding leader, celebrity, or example;
luminary: He became one of the leading lights of Restoration drama.
- the effect of light falling on an object or scene as represented in a picture.
- one of the brightest parts of a picture.
- a gleam or sparkle, as in the eyes.
- a measure or supply of light;
illumination: The wall cuts off our light.
- spiritual illumination or awareness;
- Also called day. one compartment of a window or window sash.
- a window, esp. a small one.
- mental insight;
- lights, the information, ideas, or mental capacities possessed: to act according to one's lights.
- a lighthouse.
- [Archaic.]the eyesight.
- bring to light, to discover or reveal: The excavations brought to light the remnants of an ancient civilization.
- come to light, to be discovered or revealed: Some previously undiscovered letters have lately come to light.
- hide one's light under a bushel, to conceal or suppress one's talents or successes.
- in a good (or bad ) light, under favorable (or unfavorable) circumstances: She worshiped him, but then she'd only seen him in a good light.
- in (the) light of, taking into account;
considering: It was necessary to review the decision in the light of recent developments.
- light at the end of the tunnel, a prospect of success, relief, or redemption: We haven't solved the problem yet, but we're beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel.
- see the light:
- to come into existence or being.
- to be made public.
- to begin to accept or understand a point of view one formerly opposed: Her father was opposed to her attending an out-of-town college, but he finally saw the light.
- shed or throw light on, to clarify;
clear up: His deathbed confession threw light on a mystery of long standing.
- having light or illumination;
well-lighted: the lightest room in the entire house.
- pale, whitish, or not deep or dark in color: a light blue.
- (of coffee or tea) containing enough milk or cream to produce a light color.
- to set burning, as a candle, lamp, fire, match, or cigarette;
- to turn or switch on (an electric light): One flick of the master switch lights all the lamps in the room.
- to give light to;
furnish with light or illumination: The room is lighted by two large chandeliers.
- to make (an area or object) bright with or as if with light (often fol. by up): Hundreds of candles lighted up the ballroom.
- to cause (the face, surroundings, etc.) to brighten, esp. with joy, animation, or the like (often fol. by up): A smile lit up her face. Her presence lighted up the room.
- to guide or conduct with a light: a candle to light you to bed.
- to take fire or become kindled: The damp wood refused to light.
- to ignite a cigar, cigarette, or pipe for purposes of smoking (usually fol. by up): He took out a pipe and lighted up before speaking.
- to become illuminated when switched on: This table lamp won't light.
- to become bright, as with light or color (often fol. by up): The sky lights up at sunset.
- to brighten with animation or joy, as the face or eyes (often fol. by up).
Meansmean1 (mēn),USA pronunciation v., meant, mean•ing.
- to have in mind as one's purpose or intention;
intend: I meant to compliment you on your work.
- to intend for a particular purpose, destination, etc.: They were meant for each other.
- to intend to express or indicate: What do you mean by "liberal''?
- to have as its sense or signification;
signify: The word "freedom'' means many things to many people.
- to bring, cause, or produce as a result: This bonus means that we can take a trip to Florida.
- to have (certain intentions) toward a person: He didn't mean you any harm.
- to have the value of;
assume the importance of: Money means everything to them. She means the world to him.
- to be minded or disposed;
have intentions: Beware, she means ill, despite her solicitous manner.
- mean well, to have good intentions;
try to be kind or helpful: Her constant queries about your health must be tiresome, but I'm sure she means well.
Flashing Yellow Light Means have 7 images including Traffic Lights UK, Flashing Yellow Arrow Animation, Good Flashing Yellow Light Means Nice Design #3 Flashing_Yellow_Arrow, City To Update Traffic Signals; Yellow Arrows Will Direct Drivers Turning Left, Flashing Yellow Light Means #5 How Does The Flashing Yellow Left-turn Arrow Work?, Traffic Signals A Steady Yellow Light Means The Traffic Signal Is Changing From Green To Red, Lovely Flashing Yellow Light Means #7 Traffic Signals Signs And Pavement Markings Are For. Flashing Yellow Arrow Animation. Here are the attachments:
One of the tips that one may employ to include illumination for Flashing Yellow Light Means is currently implementing solar hoses that reflect lighting into your home, through the tube and from your own top. Specifically valuable while in the house for storage or your room have a basement or different flooring above your kitchen. In this manner, the light so your place is going to be stuffed with natural light along with the atmosphere proceeding straight into the area area turns into congested regions.
If you like the atmosphere of the comfortable home with a natural illumination that is great and decorations , then this Flashing Yellow Light Means with probably a great idea for you. Develop you like our layout ideas in this blog.
Another way you could be able to incorporate is to create direct connection with the home's wall. The lighting that is in the next room can flow into your another area. You add and can also adjust some dark furnitures with other furnitures that could reveal light. In addition, the layout of home gear will be the key.


6 June, 1944. 156,000 troops from 12 different countries, 11,000 aircraft, 7,000 naval vessels, 24 hours. D-Day - the beginning of the Allied invasion of Hitler's formidable 'Fortress Europe' - was the largest amphibious invasion in history. There has never been a battle like it, before or since. But beyond the statistics and over sixty years on, what is it about the events of D-Day that remain so compelling? The courage of the men who fought and died on the beaches of France? The sheer boldness of the invasion plan? Or the fact that this, Rommel's 'longest day', heralded the beginning of the end of World War II. One of the defining battles of the war, D-Day is scored into the imagination as the moment when the darkness of the Third Reich began to be swept away. This is the story of D-Day, told through the voices of over 1,000 survivors - from high-ranking Allied and German officers, to the paratroopers who landed in Normandy before dawn, the infantry who struggled ashore and the German troops who defended the coast. Cornelius Ryan captures the horror and the glory of D-Day, relating in emotive and compelling detail the years of inspired tactical planning that led up to the invasion, its epic implementation and every stroke of luck and individual act of heroism that would later define the battle. In the words of its author, The Longest Day is a story not of war, but of the courage of man.
Longest Day, The
The D-Day Story, June 6th, 1944


General Motor’s European company announced on Friday that they will be pushing to have its main production line more environmentally friendly. GM says it would place cleaner engines in traditional cars and provide many more cars that can utilize e85 ethanol.
GM named the plan ecoFLEX and said it would provide an ecoFLEX variation with lower emissions in each production of cars, starting with the 2008 Opel Corsa 1. 3 CDTI from its European brand.
The automobile will breathe 119 grams per kilogram of carbon dioxide, which is under the proposed EU median measure of 130 grams per kilogram. An important goal for GM to work towards will be to develop vehicles with the same operation standards and that cost the same as other traditional vehicles.
Saab, a Swedish brand that is also owned by GM, would too enlarge its scope of biofuel engines. GM’s luxury brand Cadillac will also provide an example of an E85 engine by the end of 2007.
GM said they would pay more attention on environmental concerns with many technologies instead of just using only one. GM said they were moving forward in creating automobiles that operate on hydrogen fuel cells, while new technology could merely better the operation of current gasoline buring engines.
One instance was Eco-Turbo engines that take smaller cylinder displacements but develop equal ability and efficiency via turbocharging the engine.
GM Europe said it would produce 16 original GM Europe engine families and 10 original transmissions by the year of 2012.


Billions of lasers shot from a helicopter flying over the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest have detected a vast network of long-abandoned circular and rectangular-shaped villages dating from 1300 to 1700, a new study finds.
The round villages all had remarkably similar layouts, with elongated mounds circling a central plaza, like marks on a clock.
"These latter elongated mounds, when seen from above, look like the rays of the sun, which gives them the common name of 'Sóis,'" the Portuguese word for "suns," the researchers wrote in the study.
The discovery is part of a new archaeological focus on the pre-Columbian Amazon. Within the past 20 years, researchers have learned that the rainforest's southern rim was home to a great diversity of soil-sculpting cultures that engineered the landscape before the Europeans arrived. Within the past decade, scientists have uncovered the remnants of so-called "mound villages," which are shaped as circles or rectangles, and connected by road networks.
Archaeologists, however, had yet to look for mound villages in the Brazilian state of Acre, so an international group of researchers teamed up to survey the area with lidar — or light detection and ranging. With this technique, billions of lasers shot from overhead (in this case, from a helicopter) penetrate the rainforest's canopy and map the landscape below.
The lidar survey, combined with satellite data, revealed a remarkable 25 circular mound villages and 11 rectangular mound villages, the researchers said. Another 15 mound villages were so poorly preserved, they could not be categorized as either circular or rectangular, the team added.
The circular mound villages had an average diameter of 282 feet (86 meters), while the rectangular villages tended to be smaller, with an average length of 148 feet (45 m). Further analysis of the "sun" villages revealed they had carefully planned roads; each circular mound village had two "principal roads" that were wide and deep (up to 20 feet, or 6 m, across) with high banks, and smaller "minor roads" that led to nearby streams.
Most of the villages were close to each other — just about 3 miles (4.4 km) apart, the researchers found. The principal roads often connected one village to another, creating a vast community network in the rainforest, the researchers said.
The distinctive and consistent way Indigenous people arranged these villages suggests that they had specific social models for the way they organized their communities, the researchers said. It's even possible that this configuration was meant to represent the cosmos, they noted.
The intricate road system, however, "is hardly a surprise for Amazonian archaeologists," the researchers wrote in the study. "Early historical accounts attest to the ubiquity of road networks across the Amazon. They are mentioned since the 16th-century account of [the Spanish Dominican missionary] Friar Gaspar de Carvajal, who observed wide roads leading from the riverine villages to the interior." Later, in the 18th century, Col. Antonio Pires de Campos, "described a vast population inhabiting the region, with villages connected by straight, wide roads that were constantly kept clean," the researchers added.
Little is known about the culture practiced by the people in these mound villages. But preliminary research suggests that this culture's ceramics were "cruder" than those of the culture that preceded them, known as the Geoglyphs, who lived in that region from about 400 B.C. to A.D. 950.
The study was published in April in the Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology, and was just featured on Channel 4's "Jungle Mystery: Lost Kingdoms of the Amazon," in the U.K., which also featured other ancient findings from the Amazon, including a sprawling, 8-mile-long 'canvas' of rock art in Colombia dating to the last ice age.
Originally published on Live Science.


Why was clemency trending last week?
1640s, "involving many parts," from French multiple (14c.), from Late Latin multiplus "manifold," from Latin multi- "many, much" (see multi-) + -plus "-fold," (see -fold). The noun is from 1680s, in mathematics, from the adjective. Multiple choice as a type of question attested from 1828. Multiple exposure first recorded 1923.


Type: Viral Infection
Laryngitis is an inflammation of the voice box and usually caused by other viruses, such as colds. This illness is temporary and will usually subside within a week or two.
Symptoms of Laryngitis: In addition to a sore throat, other symptoms of laryngitis include a hoarse, raspy voice, loss of voice and the need to cough or clear your throat. If you are experiencing severe pain, problems swallowing, a lump in your neck or if you’re coughing up blood, you should seek medical attention immediately.


As a parent, you must be familiar with that situation when your child gets angry either because he/she didn’t get that snack they wanted, or because of that toy, the playmate refused to share. And do you remember your reaction in that situation? Was it was one of complete annoyance, which probably manifested itself in raising your voice at your child, or did you simply send your child off to their room to reflect.
This might be what you felt was the right course of action at the time, but perhaps if we stopped to think about the fact that children are human beings as well and just like us adults, they do need to be taught to manage that emotion.
Anger in itself is an emotion all of us have and in as much as it neither a good or bad one, the way we deal with it can be just as constructive as it can be destructive. We, therefore, need to show our children how to deal with such an emotion, so that it is displayed in a proper way. What you’ll also notice is that a number of child behaviour issues (disrespect, aggression, conflict etc) can be curbed once a child is taught how to handle their anger.
Some of these tips have been listed below:
Difference between behaviour and feelings
Children are generally unable to differentiate between anger / aggressive behaviour and feelings. This has to be made clear to them so they are able to distinguish between the two. Help your child understand the difference and let them know it is ok to talk about their feelings of annoyance, disappointment etc Pointing out to your child that feeling angry is ok – it is just another emotion we have as humans, but they just need to know how to manage it and there’s no need for it to manifest itself in the form of violence.
Talk it through
As their parent; you could get to the root of the matter by having a conversation with your child about what triggered their anger. By talking this through with your child, he/she might calm down. They might not feel too comfortable talking to you about what’s troubling them at the time, in which case you could suggest they go and cool off then revisit the matter at a later time in the day.
Teach by doing
Your child will normally emulate your actions, which means we have to be on our best and model behaviour at all times. Having said this, it is also good for your child to see how you cope with your anger issues – I mean, let’s face it; we all lose it at some point. If that happens to be in front of your child, you should apologise and have that discussion letting them know that what you did was not the right thing to do.
If you have been able to hold it all together and have never let it slip in front of your child, a chat would also be in order, to let them know of instances where you have felt such emotions and most importantly, how you handled it. This can be a good way for a child to learn how to discuss their feelings.
Implement house rules and guidelines
Set the standard for what is acceptable behaviour and not. This will help instill the norm not just in the household, but also in your child – remember; charity begins at home. Whatever your child has been raised with, is likely to be what he/she practices wherever they go. Once everyone is clear about what constitutes a violation of the rules as well as the possible consequences, this should create a healthy interaction between members of the household. The rules could include:
The above are just examples and will vary for each family.
Nurture better approaches
As already stated, children do need to be educated on the best ways to handle their anger. Instead of simply telling your child to ‘stop it!’, advise them of what to do, to help them cope with their frustration e.g. time out, to help them cool down as opposed to being used as a punishment tool.
Other relaxation techniques could be for your child to walk away from the situation - to go off and (possibly) look for an enjoyable activity to do, to help calm him/her down and take their mind off that situation.
Teaching your child skills on how to effectively manage their anger, will help develop their behaviour while instilling in him/her essential skills for life.
In today’s ever fast-moving society, we are always in a hurry to get to where we need to be, which makes simple (and what used to be) normal activities such as eating together as a family, a special occasion nowadays.
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Your Love Affair With Books... After a long day of tasks completed and ticked off or on the way or abandoned, how great is it to curl up in bed - with a good book, allowing yourself to be swept
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Does All Work Make Jack and Jackie Dull? Making the Most of School Holidays... The work-life balance is a tricky question for parents not just seeking to find a healthy balance in their own lives but also for their children,
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Luna Park, Coney Island (1903)
Luna Park entrance, early 20th century
|Location||Coney Island, Brooklyn, United States|
Elmer "Skip" Dundy
|Closed||Destroyed by fire in 1944, closed in 1946 after a second fire.|
Luna Park was an amusement park in Coney Island, Brooklyn, in New York City that opened in 1903. Built partly on the grounds of Sea Lion Park (1895), it was one of the three original iconic large parks built on Coney Island, the other two being Steeplechase Park (1897) and Dreamland (1904). Luna Park was located on the north side of Surf Avenue on a site between 8th street, 12th street and Neptune Avenue. The park was mostly destroyed by a fire in 1944.
In 1901 the park's creators, Frederic Thompson and Elmer "Skip" Dundy, had created a wildly successful ride called "A Trip To The Moon", as part of the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, New York. The name of the fanciful "airship" (complete with flapping wings) that was the main part of the ride was Luna, the Latin word for the moon. The airship, and the later park built around it may have been named after Dundy's sister in Des Moines, Luna Dundy Newman.
At the invitation of Steeplechase owner Harry George Tilyou, Thompson and Dundy moved their show to Steeplechase Park, a Coney Island amusement park, for the 1902 season. The deal ended at the end of the summer after Thompson and Dundy rejected a Tilyou's contract renewal offer that cut their take of the profits by 20%.
At the end of 1902 season Thompson and Dundy signed a long-term lease for Paul Boyton's Sea Lion Park. Sea Lion, the first large scale enclosed park at Coney island, had opened 7 years before. The park had several centerpiece rides but a bad summer season and competition with Steeplechase Park made Boyton decide to get out of the amusement park business. Besides the 16-acre Sea Lion Park Thompson and Dundy also leased the adjacent land where the Elephantine Colossus Hotel had stood until it burned down in 1896. This gave them 22 acres, all the land north of Surf Avenue and south of Neptune Avenue and between W. 8th and W. 12th Street, to build a much larger park.
Thompson and Dundy spent $700,000 (although they advertised it as $1,000,000) totally rebuilding the park and expanding its attractions. The park's architectural style was an Oriental theme with buildings built on a grand scale and over 1,000 red and white painted spires, minarets and domes. At night all the domes, spires and towers were lit with over 250,000 electric lights. At the center of the park in the middle of a lake was the 200 foot tall Electric Tower that was decorated with twenty thousand incandescent lamps, a smaller version of the Electric Tower that was the crowning feature of the Pan-American Exposition two years earlier. At the base of the tower was a series of cascading fountains. Eventually two circus rings were suspended over the central lagoon to keep customers entertained between rides.
Calling itself as "The heart of Coney Island," Luna Park turned on its lights and opened its gates to a crowd of 60,000 spectators precisely at 8:05pm on May 16, 1903, coinciding with the timing of sunset on that Saturday night. Admission to the park was ten cents with rides costing extra, up to 25 cents for the most elaborate rides. The park was accessible from the terminals of the West End and Sea Beach railroad lines.
Although Luna Park was a success, competition for visitors ramped up on Coney Island. The next year a third large-scale park called Dreamland opened up. Dreamland featured 4 times as many lights than Luna Park, an even bigger central Tower, and attractions such as "The End of the World", "Feast of Beshazzar and the Destruction of Babylon", and Lilliputia, a miniature village populated by little people. In 1907 Dundy died leaving Frederic Thompson to run Luna Park until 1912 when he went bankrupt and lost the park to creditors, although he continued as manager.
Luna Park would continue under different management over the years with rides constantly being changed and updated. The Great Depression saw the park go into bankruptcy several times stating in 1933, owners came and went but none seemed to be able to make a profit. Many of the exhibits, rides and shows from the 1939 New York World's Fair moved to Luna Park after the Fair closed and Luna was billed as the New York World's Fair of 1941. With the US entry into World War II Luna was allowed to stay open as a morale booster but had to keep its lights dimmed for wartime security.
A pair of fires in 1944 damaged Luna Park, destroying much of it. It was not rebuilt and did not open for the 1945 season. After a legal battle and a third fire in 1946, the land was used for other purposes. The original Luna Park now houses a five building cooperative apartment complex and is still called Luna Park to this day.
Rides and attractions
Besides the "A Trip to the Moon" Luna Park had many other rides and attractions over the years including:
- "Shoot the Chutes" - a central ride left over from Boynton's Sea Lion Park
- "Bridge of Laughs" - an un-even surface prank bridge
- "Canals of Venice" - gondola ride
- "Dragon's Gorge" - a scenic railroad trip (opened 1905)
- "The War of the Worlds"
- "The Kansas Cyclone"
- "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" (1903-1904)
- "Midnight Express" - miniature railroad
- "Razzle Dazzle"
- "Helter Skelter" - a twisting sliding board
- "Hagenbeck's Wild Animals"
- "Little Egypt" - a show of exotic dancers
- "The Teaser" - spinning wooden chairs
- "The Tickler" (1907) - large round tub that rolled down hill through a winding fence lined path
- "Trip to The North Pole" - Simulated submarine ride to the North Pole that landed patrons in an Eskimo Village
- "Old Mill" - tunnel of love ride
- "Witching Waves" (1907) - small cars propelled by an undulating floor
- "Chinese Theater"
- "Professor Wormwood's Monkey Theater" - trained dogs, monkeys, and apes
- "Infant Incubators" - a display of the new type of infant care
There were also a "Grand Ballroom", concerts, fireworks, and carnival performances. Thompson and Dundy were constantly changing the park's attractions such as replacing the "20,000 League Under the Sea" in 1905 with the indoor scenic railway called "Dragon's Gorge". Although the building of the park included the infamous publicity stunt where Thompson and Dundy executed Topsy the elephant by electrocution, park owner Dundy became fond of the animals and elephant rides became a feature of the park.
In popular culture
- Roscoe Arbuckle's 1917 movie Coney Island features Luna Park.
- Harold Lloyd's 1928 movie Speedy depicts Luna Park.
- The song "Meet Me Down At Luna, Lena" was recorded by Billy Murray in 1905 to promote the park, among others. The song was rerecorded for the 2007 documentary film Welcome Back Riders.
On May 29, 2010 a new amusement park named "Luna Park" opened at the former site of the defunct Astroland park, a parcel of land on the south side of Surf Avenue just across from the original Luna Park site. The new park, which includes new semi-permanent rides, games, food and beverage concessions, and live entertainment, features an entrance patterned after the entrance to the original 1903 Luna Park.
- Luna Park, list of parks based on the original Luna Park
- "Electrocuting an Elephant.". The Bendigo Independent (10,226). Victoria, Australia. 21 May 1903. p. 6 (SUPPLEMENT TO THE BENDIGO INDEPENDENT). Retrieved 31 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
- "Spectacular Fires on New York Waterfront and Amusement Park". The Examiner (Tasmania). CIII, (133). Tasmania, Australia. 14 August 1944. p. 1. Retrieved 31 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
- "Fire Destroys Luna Park". News. 47, (7,229). South Australia. 3 October 1946. p. 4. Retrieved 31 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
- David Goldfield, Encyclopedia of American Urban History, SAGE Publications - 2006, page 185
- Pilat, Oliver and Jo Ranson, Sodom By the Sea: An Affectionate History of Coney Island, Garden City: Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1941, p. 146
- David A. Sullivan. "Thompson and Dundy's Luna Park (1903-1944)". www.heartofconeyisland.com. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
- Map at coneyislandhistory.org
- Ed Boland, jr., "FYI: An elephant's demise," New York Times, July 8, 2001, pg. CY2
- Luna Park Co-op @ Coney Island
- Luna Park at Coney Island - A Tribute to Light By Patty Inglish
- Jeffrey Stanton, Coney Island - Luna Park, 1998
- MP3 file
- Welcome Back Riders
- Billy Murray and the Haydn Quartet sing "Meet Me Down at Luna, Lena"
- Luna Park history site with numerous pictures
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Luna Park, Coney Island.|


“IS THIS the first step in an accounting revolution, or merely an interesting and expensive experiment?” asked The Economist in an article devoted to the world's first business computer, nearly 50 years ago. The machine, the Lyons Electronic Office (LEO), was built by Lyons, a British catering company. On November 17th 1951, it ran a program to evaluate the costs, prices and margins for that week's output of bread, cakes and pies, and ran the same program each week thereafter. In February 1954 LEO took on the weekly calculation of the company's payroll, prompting an article in these pages.
Other computers had been used to run one-off calculations for businesses, and many firms used mechanical or electrical calculators. But LEO was the first dedicated business machine to operate on the “stored program” principle, meaning that it could be quickly reconfigured to perform different tasks by loading a new program. It occupied 5,000 square feet of floorspace, contained 6,000 thermionic valves, and its mercury-delay-line memory could hold 2,048 instructions. LEO was built by a team led by John Pinkerton, and its design was based on Cambridge University's EDSAC computer.
In 1954 Lyons spun off a separate company, LEO Computers, to build machines for other firms. Today the company is nowhere to be seen. British firms, unlike their American counterparts, were sceptical about business computing; American manufacturers soon took the lead. LEO Computers vanished in a series of disastrous mergers. “I know of no computer merger anywhere where there has been added value from the merger of competing forces of engineers, marketers and programmers,” David Caminer, LEO's software guru, said last week at a conference to mark the 50th anniversary.
The troubled HP-Compaq merger suggests that the industry has yet to learn this lesson. And one big question remains unanswered. “Might computers not have a valuable contribution to make in improving business efficiency?” asked our 1954 article on LEO. The jury is still out on that one.


The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently launched a new campaign to alert the public about deadly risks of opioid analgesics. While the government’s systematic collection and skillful presentation of data are impressive and overwhelming, this may be tilting away from a balanced perspective in order to incite fears of a so-called “epidemic” of opioid misuse, overdoses, and deaths.
There seems no doubt that America has serious substance misuse problems. And, by all accounts, coming from groups like the World Health Organization, such problems are endemic globally. Overdoses and deaths associated with strong analgesics are increasing, but whether these trends represent an epidemic and the proposed solutions have valid evidence for their effectiveness remain open questions.
Government agencies seem to have adopted a viewpoint of prescription analgesics as threats to public health. And, despite frequent assurances by these agencies that they want to stem the tide of opioid overdoses and deaths while ensuring that patients with pain continue to have access to these vital medications, we have wondered if this might reflect a “myth of beneficence”: that is, it appears to have the best interests of patients in mind while, at the same time, inciting fears and encouraging actions and regulations that are questionable in terms of their actual benefit to patients [discussed in UPDATE here].
Are the Data Portraying Fact or Fiction?
On November 1, 2011, the CDC released several reports to demonstrate that overdose deaths involving opioid analgesics are a present and worsening epidemic. The 3 papers, each drawing upon the same data for different presentations, are as follows…
- Paulozzi LJ, Jones CM, Mack KA, Rudd RA. Vital Signs: Overdoses of Prescription Opioid Pain Relievers — United States, 1999-2008. MMWR. 2011(Nov 1);60 [PDF here].
- Policy Impact: Prescription Painkiller Overdoses. CDC. 2011(Nov) [PDF here].
- Vital Signs: Prescription Painkiller Overdoses in the US. CDC. 2011 (Nov) [PDF here].
While the report titles seem straightforward, use of the term “painkiller” in the titles and throughout papers #2 and #3 for the general public discussing opioid analgesics, immediately projects an adversarial bias that these drugs kill rather than help people. In paper #1, a more technical version for professionals, the less sensational phrase “opioid pain relievers (OPR)” is used.
News media reported widely on the CDC reports — using the “painkiller” label — without questioning their accuracy, veracity, or biases. Here are highlights of some of those data along with our commentary…
- In 2008, drug overdoses in the U.S. were associated with 36,450 deaths of which 20,044 involved one of more prescription drugs. Opioid pain relievers were implicated in 14,800 overdose deaths, 41% of the total, or, as one of the CDC reports stated it: “Prescription painkiller overdoses killed nearly 15,000 people in the US in 2008. This is more than 3 times the 4,000 persons killed by these drugs in 1999.”
Apart from the inflammatory CDC rhetoric suggesting that opioids are “killer drugs,” it must be understood that mortality data are gathered from medical examiner reports attributing cause of death and the role that opioids might have played. In many cases, opioids are found present at autopsy, and reported as such, but their causative role might be challenged. Also, it is not uncommon for drug poisoning deaths to be miscoded, and the CDC concedes that some deaths involving both illicit and prescription opioids are not counted correctly — so the accuracy of mortality data and the sole role of opioids should be questioned.
Furthermore, whether the 3-fold increase in number of deaths during the 10-years is also a significant relative-rate increase can only be determined if the numbers of persons being prescribed, using, or misusing opioids during those respective time periods is known, but this was not reported. In other words, if 3 times more persons were exposed to opioid analgesics in 2008 than in 1999, the relative incidence rate of deaths for each of those years could be identical; still a problem, but not one that is mushrooming out of control.
- Sales of OPR — to pharmacies, hospitals, clinics — quadrupled between 1999 and 2010. Or, as the CDC described this: “Enough OPR were prescribed last year to medicate every American adult with a standard pain treatment dose of 5 mg of hydrocodone taken every 4 hours for a month.”
While this may seem like an extraordinarily huge amount of opioid medication, as the CDC report writers no doubt intended it to sound, the latest data from the Institute of Medicine indicate that 116 million adult Americans suffer chronic pain [see UPDATE here]. So, if just a significant fraction of those persons need opioid medication daily, year round (12 months), for pain relief, the CDC numbers actually do not amount to very much OPR.
From the CDC data, we do not know the numbers of persons with chronic pain in 1999, so there is no way to determine if there is a correspondence between that and sales of OPR at that time. However, there has been increased recognition during the past decade of chronic pain as a serious disease, so a corresponding increase in OPR prescribing (even a 4-fold increase in sales) for better pain management could and should be naturally expected.
- The CDC reports that the rate of admissions to “substance abuse treatment” programs in 2009 was almost 6 times the rate in 1999.
Apparently, this figure is supposed to depict the growing burden on society of increased OPR distribution; although, the CDC does not provide any information about whether “treatment” also involves therapy for alcohol and illicit opioid misuse, as is commonly the case. So, perhaps, this is merely presented in their reports for some sort of shock value. At any rate, this could actually be a favorably positive trend if it means the public is becoming more sensitive to substance misuse problems and more willing to seek appropriate treatment for those conditions.
- The CDC reports incorporate a version of the figure at right to visualize the data described in the above 3 points. While the trends may look impressive at first glance, they also are somewhat misleading.
The rate calculations are population based and have been adjusted to make OPR death rates seem of a magnitude directly comparable to OPR sales and treatment admissions. In actuality, OPR death rates (per 100,000 persons) are 10 times smaller than the other rate measures (based on per 10,000 persons). If all curves were drawn to the same scale, OPR deaths would be mostly off the bottom of the graph. At its peak in 2008, the OPR overdose death incidence rate was only 0.48 per 10,000 persons, and the 14,800 deaths represented roughly 0.005% of the total population.
The figure also portrays a common fallacy in medical research: cum hoc, ergo propter hoc, or "with this, therefore because of this." This wrongly reasons that when two or more event rates or trends seem to change in parallel there is a cause-effect relationship between them. For example, to the naïve reader, the figure implies that increased opioid prescribing (sales) through the years has directly resulted in more opioid overdose deaths and more addiction requiring treatment. Although this may seem reasonable at face value, the CDC has not built a scientifically credible argument or statistical basis to support such a cause-effect relationship.
Perhaps of greatest interest, looking at the trend lines, the OPR deaths trend flattens from 2006 to 2008. The CDC authors do not comment on this, but it could suggest that overdose fatalities actually might have started moderating as of nearly 6 years ago, even as the opioid distribution rate continued to largely increase. The CDC could be falsely saying that there is a burgeoning epidemic today, while their own data on overdose mortality from nearly 4 to 6 years ago suggest it could be otherwise.
- One of the reports notes that in 2010, 2 million people used OPRs nonmedically for the first time, nearly 5,500 persons each day. Another of the reports states that for every person who dies of an OPR overdose there are 825 others who are nonmedical users of opioid analgesics. “Nonmedical” is defined by the CDC as “use of a prescription pain reliever without a prescription belonging to the respondent or use for the experience or feeling the drug causes.”
This definition, as commonly used by the government, is vague and imprecise. Most clearly, the recreational use of opioids (eg, to get “high”) would be nonmedical use. However, the category also includes persons with pain who use opioids without a prescription of their own for analgesic purposes, which is a form of “medical misuse” that is more common than imagined these days due to a continuing undertreatment of pain.
For example, one research study found that 12% of high school students surveyed had misused opioids for so-called “nonmedical” reasons; however, among those teenagers, 45% said that they used the medications solely for a medical purpose — to relieve physical pain [discussed in UPDATE here]. This is still a bad situation, but the motivations behind what might best be called “medical misuse” make an important difference in defining, measuring, and solving the problems.
Another term frequently used in government data is opioid “abuse.” This blurred and overly broad category usually reflects both medical misuse (also including medication noncompliance by persons who take more or less of an opioid than prescribed) and nonmedical use. Thereby, data regarding any deviations from opioid use exactly as prescribed are easily conflated and inflated to make the problems look of greater magnitude than they actually are.
The reports go on to compare and contrast overdose and mortality rates from the various states, and the extreme burdens of this on society: eg, “Abuse of OPR costs health insurers approximately $72.5 billion annually in health-care costs.” Unfortunately, the data are not entirely current and the accuracy and validity of the database might be questioned, as above; so, these numbers might be worthy of further and more rigorous scrutiny by independent, unbiased researchers.
Data in Perspective: What is an Epidemic?
The CDC reports follow after another recent paper, from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), titled “Epidemic: Responding to America’s Prescription Drug Abuse Crisis” [PDF here]. So this epidemic agenda is not entirely new. And, while it makes for sensational news headlines that grab public attention, the use of this term and its accompanying panic-provoking rhetoric might be akin to falsely shouting “fire” in a crowded movie theater.
The typical dictionary definition of “epidemic” is a disease or condition “affecting or tending to affect a disproportionately large number of individuals within a population, community, or region at the same time” [Merriam-Webster online]. The dimensions of “disproportionately” and “large” are open-ended and vague; yet, the government’s liberal use of “epidemic” in the context of analgesic overdoses/deaths is seemingly intended to connote newly emerging and unique problems of monumental proportions needing urgent and sweeping action.
However, an important question is: How do the roughly 15,000 OPR-related deaths, noted above, compare with other causes of death in the U.S.?
The most recent government mortality data, from National Vital Statistics Reports [PDF here], lists the 15 leading causes of death in the U.S. for 2008-2009. These range from Diseases of the Heart (598,607) at the top to Assault/Homicide (16,591) at the bottom. Drug-induced deaths, in general, are not among the top causes, but the report observes that their rate decreased by 1.6% from 2008 to 2009, which might support the moderating trend noted above.
Curiously, none of those 15 leading causes is being touted by the government as an epidemic; not even Assault/Homicide, which, like OPR-related deaths, might be construed as a large, disproportionate, and preventable problem. In a separate analysis, the Vital Statistics Reports note that in 2008 there were 24,263 Alcohol-Induced deaths; another large and preventable problem. While it is unclear why this was not among the top 15, the rate of alcohol-related deaths is 62% greater than for OPR-related mortality — yet, it is not considered an epidemic.
Of particular interest and concern, Intentional Self-Harm/Suicide is ranked number 10 on the list — 36,547 deaths in 2009 — and the only cause of death in the top 15 to have increased from 2008. Suicide should be of great concern because, as we have previously noted [here] and [here], mortality risks of poorly managed chronic pain are high and suicide attempts and completed suicides among persons with unrelieved pain may be drastically increasing. Yet, the government has not declared suicide — at more than twice the number of OPR-related deaths — as an epidemic.
Some might argue that rates of homicides, suicides, and alcohol-induced deaths have not risen as dramatically during the past decade as OPR-releated deaths. However, even if that were so, it would imply that current incidences of those other tragedies, which are significantly higher than for OPR deaths, are acceptable and not worthy of being labeled epidemics.
Perhaps, there may be a government directive for determining what is or is not an epidemic that is driven by something other than an unbiased scientific viewpoint. Solving problems of substance misuse, overdoses, and deaths certainly deserve a high priority. However, the public has a right to expect better from tax-supported agencies than clever manipulations of data and flawed arguments to advance hidden agendas. In the long run — as greater controls and restrictions are placed on the prescribing of opioid analgesics — this may prove detrimental to a very large segment of the population: the 116 million persons with chronic pain.
ADDENDUM 11/8/2011 — It has just come to our attention that, last September, the CDC issued a request for a proposal [here] that appears to acknowledge current inaccuracies of medical examiner reports regarding the role opioids may play as a cause of death (as we suggested above). The document states, “The net result of these problems has been a wide variability in case definitions and practices used in autopsy and toxicologic evaluations for deaths involving heroin or opioid analgesics. Such variability has made it more difficult for public health agencies to make accurate comparisons of the rates of overdose in different jurisdictions.” The requested project is to develop a position paper and guidelines on determining deaths from opioid intoxication.
The document further states, “Such a process could lead to a uniform case definition and uniform standards for autopsy and toxicologic evaluations resulting in an opportunity for consistent death certification and better public health surveillance.” We believe that, until such standards are developed and implemented, mortality data on opioid-related deaths coming from government agencies should be cautiously considered as having any validity.


- 1 How long does oral cancer take to kill you?
- 2 How long can you survive untreated mouth cancer?
- 3 How long can you live with Stage 4 oral cancer?
- 4 Can oral cancer be cured completely?
- 5 Does Mouth cancer grow fast?
- 6 Can oral cancer Kill U?
- 7 Is mouth cancer aggressive?
- 8 What is the last stage of mouth cancer?
- 9 Is Stage 4 oral cancer curable?
- 10 Where does mouth cancer usually start?
- 11 What happens if oral cancer is left untreated?
- 12 How do you know if oral cancer has spread?
- 13 Which food is good for mouth cancer?
- 14 Can oral cancer go away on its own?
- 15 Is oral cancer painful?
How long does oral cancer take to kill you?
Overall, an estimated 40% of people with cancer affecting the mouth and pharynx will live at least five years after their diagnosis and many people live much longer.
How long can you survive untreated mouth cancer?
Five-year survival rates ranged from 31.1% among early-stage patients to 12.6% among stage 4 patients. Conclusion: Although the natural course of oral cavity cancer carries a poor prognosis, there are a number of patients with longer-than-expected survival.
How long can you live with Stage 4 oral cancer?
For men diagnosed with stage 3 and 4 mouth cancer:
almost 70 out of 100 (almost 70%) survive their cancer for a year or more. almost 50 out of 100 (almost 50%) survive their cancer for 3 years or more.
Can oral cancer be cured completely?
If the cancer has not spread beyond the mouth or the part of your throat at the back of your mouth (oropharynx) a complete cure may be possible using surgery alone. If the cancer is large or has spread to your neck, a combination of surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy may be needed.
Does Mouth cancer grow fast?
Most oral cancers are a type called squamous cell carcinoma. These cancers tend to spread quickly. Smoking and other tobacco use are linked to most cases of oral cancer. Heavy alcohol use also increases the risk for oral cancer.
Can oral cancer Kill U?
If diagnosed early, oral cancer patients have an 80 to 90 percent 5-year survival rate. But if ignored, that rate plummets to less than 50 percent. It’s no secret that tobacco and alcohol use, as well as age, increase your risk for oral cancer.
Is mouth cancer aggressive?
The five-year survival rate is approximately 50 percent. This is because oral cancers can be aggressive and difficult to treat. Oral cancers are often diagnosed at an advanced stage after the cancer has spread (metastasized) to the lymph nodes of the neck.
What is the last stage of mouth cancer?
Stage IV is the most advanced stage of mouth cancer. It may be any size, but it has spread to: nearby tissue, such as the jaw or other parts of the oral cavity.
Is Stage 4 oral cancer curable?
The five-year relative survival rate for oral cavity and pharynx cancer by stage is: Localized: 83.7 percent. Regional: 65 percent. Distant: 39.1 percent.
Where does mouth cancer usually start?
Mouth cancers most commonly begin in the flat, thin cells (squamous cells) that line your lips and the inside of your mouth.
What happens if oral cancer is left untreated?
If left untreated, there is a high chance of the cells developing into a cancer. Your doctor may completely remove the cancer cells during a biopsy, if the affected area is very small. Or you may need to have minor surgery.
How do you know if oral cancer has spread?
X-rays to see if cancer cells have spread to the jaw, chest, or lungs. a CT scan to reveal any tumors in your mouth, throat, neck, lungs, or elsewhere in your body. a PET scan to determine if the cancer has traveled to lymph nodes or other organs.
Which food is good for mouth cancer?
Eat cold, rather than hot foods. Rinse your mouth with water before eating. Instead of red meat, try poultry, fish, eggs, cheese, or other high-protein foods. Try lemon-flavored drinks to stimulate saliva and taste.
Can oral cancer go away on its own?
It’s easy to get the care you need.
The bad news: Oral cancer is common. The good news: If you have oral cancer and your doctor finds and treats it early, it usually is very curable. Oral cancer can usually be detected by a doctor or dentist in a routine mouth exam.
Is oral cancer painful?
Canker sores: Painful, but not dangerous
In the early stages, mouth cancer rarely causes any pain. Abnormal cell growth usually appears as flat patches. A canker sore looks like an ulcer, usually with a depression in the center.


It Doesn’t Mean You're Crazy - Talking to Yourself Has Cognitive Benefits, University of Wisconsin-Madison Study
4/18/2012 7:14:44 AM
Most people talk to themselves at least every few days, and many report talking to themselves on an hourly basis. What purpose is served by this seemingly irrational behavior? Previous research has suggested that such self-directed speech in children can help guide their behavior. For example, children often talk themselves step-by-step through tying their shoelaces, as if reminding themselves to focus on the job in hand.


Sara asked about curry powder.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with curry powder. It has been safely used for many centuries, following time honoured and well proven practices.
But what if those practices are not followed?
First, let's look at what curry powder is. It is the ground mixture of spices, seeds of a variety of plants. Seeds that have been exposed to the environment. There is nothing abnormal in that but, because of their origin, the seeds that go into curry powder will bring with them a variety of organisms from the environment. Notably Salmonella.
Now, how is curry traditionally prepared? You heat oil in a pan and cook the powder in this oil. Ostensibly to 'bring out the flavour' but, by a happy coincidence, it also sterilises the powder. You then add meat, vegetables, whatever and continue with making your curry.
What happens if you deviate from this long proven, survival enhancing, cooking practice? What if you are a new age cook and make a curried pasta salad where you just mix the warm (!) pasta, mayonnaise, vegetables, cream and curry powder and stir? Nothing much if you eat it straight away. But bacteria will double roughly every 20min at room temperature; what if you make your salad early and leave it for a few hours before eating? Not a good idea - the salad is warm, moist and protein rich - happy times for the bacteria.
Because of the risk, spices are one of the few things that are permitted to be irradiated to sterilise them. But this does not teach people safe handling practices for a potentially dangerous food. People will just be ignorant of the dangers and at risk from spices that are not irradiated.