Iliving App Review from the heart
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I originally posted this on one of my TLD's but I figured it was a great
fit for this blog, seeing as the topic is really kinda about stupid human
tricks. ...
Angelina Tracy AKA Nina Pictures with Charlie Sheen
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And the search is on. Aside from the obvious Ashley Dupre Playboy pictures...
Yes, the Goverwhore has finally posed nude for Playboy. It seems she was
wait...
TRANSFORMERS 3 - RELEASE DATE?
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The upcoming summer blockbuster TRANSOFRMERS 2 - REVENGE OF THE FALLEN has
not even hit the theatres yet and there is already talk about a third
installmen...
Janine SligarJANINE SLIGAR Former prison secretary JANINE SLIGAR has been sentenced to six months in federal prison for having sex with an JANINE SLIGAR Sentenced to Prison for Sex with Inmate inmate. JANINE SLIGAR, 47, had a sexual relationship with inmate Eric McClain, whom she was supposed to be supervising. According to CNN, the two indulged in 10 to 20 sessions of oral sex and intercourse, and many of these encounters took place in a staff restroom in the housing unit at the Federal Prison Camp in Florence, Colorado. JANINE SLIGAR was found guilty of sexual abuse.
Authorities underscore the fact that sex between inmates and prison employees is an enormous security risk that comprimises the integrity of both the institution and it employees. As a result of her transgressions, JANINE SLIGAR, who has worked for the Bureau of Prisons for 14 years, will have to register as a sex offender upon completing her prison term.
JANINE SLIGAR Sent Sexually Explicit Photos
JANINE SLIGAR's plea agreement contains a number of interesting revelations. For instance, she obtained a cell phone with a non-local number so that she and McClain could communicate clandestinely. In addition, JANINE SLIGAR sent McClain sexually explicit photographs and also used her cellphone camera to take graphic pictures of her and McClain engaging in sex acts. Perhaps most disturbing of all, though, is the fact that JANINE SLIGAR changed the primary beneficiary on her insurance policy from her children to McClain.
JANINE SLIGAR and Other Women Who are Attracted to Criminals
JANINE SLIGAR is not the first women to have a relationship with a criminal, and she won't be the last. That some women find criminals attractive and worthy of romantic love is one of life's more interesting - and disturbing - mysteries. To this writer, it is that element of the Sligar case that it noteworthy, and not the fact that she is - perhaps unfarily - being labeled a sex offender. It never ceases to shock the public when women send love letters to the likes of Scott Peterson and Ted Bundy (the "Night Stalker" Richard Ramirez, who gouged out the eyes of some of his victims, also has female admirers; what could be more troubling?)
Why do Women Like JANINE SLIGAR get Involved with Criminals?
Dr. Gail Saltz notes that there are a number of reasons why a woman might be drawn to a criminal, and they vary depending on the "psychological
makeup of the woman." She notes that one of the more common reasons is a fascination with aggression and evil. "Some women are drawn to the idea of committing a crime, and while they may never do so themselves, they are attracted to a man who has committed a crime and it allows them to identify with his sadism and aggression. They vicariously enjoy his disregard for authority and his brutality. They can imagine being him - without actually doing the bad thing. In this way, a man like Charles Manson was able to draw women to him who would participate in his crimes or at least be involved with him," writes Saltz.
Clearly, then, women who are drawn to violent criminals and bad boys have deeply rooted emotional issues and ought to undergo psychological counseling. Perhaps that's what JANINE SLIGAR ought to do when she gets out of prison.
Angela Suleman said her daughter always had trouble conceiving and underwent in vitro fertilization treatments because her fallopian tubes are "plugged up." There were frozen embryos left over after her previous pregnancies and her daughter didn't want them destroyed, so she decided to have more children.
Her mother and doctors have said Nadya Suleman was told she had the option to abort some of the embryos and, later, the fetuses. She refused. Her mother said she does not believe her daughter will have any more children. "She doesn't have any more (frozen embryos), so it's over now," she said. "It has to be."
Nadya Suleman wanted to have children since she was a teenager, "but luckily she couldn't," her mother said. "Instead of becoming a kindergarten teacher or something, she started having them, but not the normal way," he mother said. Her daughter's obsession with children caused Angela Suleman considerable stress, so she sought help from a psychologist, who told her to order her daughter out of the house. "Maybe she wouldn't have had so many kids then, but she is a grown woman," Angela Suleman said. "I feel responsible and I didn't want to throw her out."
Yolanda Garcia, 49, of Whittier, Calif., said she helped care for Nadya Suleman's autistic son three years ago. "From what I could tell back then, she was pretty happy with herself, saying she liked having kids and she wanted 12 kids in all," Garcia told the Long Beach Press-Telegram. "She told me that all of her kids were through in vitro, and I said 'Gosh, how can you afford that and go to school at the same time?"' she added. "And she said it's because she got paid for it."
Garcia said she did not ask for details.
Nadya Suleman holds a 2006 degree in child and adolescent development from California State University, Fullerton, and as late as last spring she was studying for a master's degree in counselling, college spokeswoman Paula Selleck told the Press-Telegram.
Her fertility doctor has not been identified. Her mother told the Los Angeles Times all the children came from the same sperm donor but she declined to identify him.
Birth certificates reviewed by The Associated Press identify a David Solomon as the father for the four oldest children. Certificates for the other children were not immediately available.
The news that the octuplets' mother already had six children sparked an ethical debate. Some medical experts were disturbed to hear that she was offered fertility treatment, and troubled by the possibility that she was implanted with so many embryos.
Others worried that she would be overwhelmed trying to raise so many children and would end up relying on public support.
The eight babies - six boys and two girls - were delivered by cesarean section weighing between one pound, eight ounces and three pounds, four ounces. Forty-six physicians and staff assisted in the deliveries.
In an effort to elay public concerns, VP of search products & user experience Marissa Mayer said. "We work with a non-profit called StopBadware.org to get our list of URLs. StopBadware carefully researches each consumer complaint to decide fairly whether that URL belongs on the list. Since each case needs to be individually researched, this list is maintained by humans, not algorithms. We periodically receive updates to that list and received one such update to release on the site this morning. Unfortunately (and here’s the human error), the URL of ‘/’ was mistakenly checked in as a value to the file and ‘/’ expands to all URLs"
Simple human error or gross negligence, this will most likely not be the last time we hear about this kind of costly mistake. When it comes to technology, the human aspect is always the weakest link.
Cancer-stricken actor Patrick Swayze has given up medical treatment. The 56-year-old Dirty Dancing star — who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year — reportedly abandoned chemotherapy and other treatment when doctors told him there was nothing they could do to stop the spread of his disease.
A family friend told the National Enquirer: "There's nothing more doctors can do for him. We are down to the wire and the goal now is to keep Patrick comfortable. "His condition is inoperable and they have stopped the chemo. He's still losing weight and he's very weak. He's taking morphine. That and the cigarettes seem to keep him functioning through the pain."
The actor, who recently said he was determined to fight his illness, was admitted to hospital with pneumonia earlier this month. He was released on Jan. 16, but friends say the chest infection left the star weakened.
In a recent interview, Swayze spoke about his prognosis and his hopes for the future. He said: "I'd say five years is wishful thinking. Two years seems likely if you're going to believe the statistics. "There's more I want to do. Lots more. I want to last until they find a cure."
A judge in Arizona sentenced rapper DMX to 90 days in jail on Friday on drug, theft and animal cruelty charges. The 38-year-old rapper DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, has been in custody since December.
Maricopa County Superior Court Commissioner Phemonia Miller gave Simmons no credit for time served and placed him on 18 months of supervised probation.
The rapper turned actor, whose hit albums include "Year of the Dog ... Again" and "It's Dark and Hell is Hot," has been in legal trouble during the past year in Arizona, where he keeps a home near Phoenix.
In May, he was arrested on drug and animal cruelty charges after sheriff's deputies raided his home. Authorities found dog carcasses and malnourished pit bulls.
He also was charged with assuming someone's identity and giving false information during a trip to the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, in a suspected attempt to avoid paying the bill.
Simmons had pleaded guilty to the charges to settle three criminal cases against him and agreed not to own animals or possess firearms.
"After several run-ins with the law, Mr. Simmons is finally being held accountable for his actions. We will continue to prosecute aggressively all cases involving cruelty to animals," county attorney Andrew Thomas said in a statement.
Simmons' attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.
A bus packed with Chinese tourists rolled on a highway near the Hoover Dam on Friday killing seven passengers and injuring 9, an Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman said. The spokesman, Lieutenant James Warriner, said six people were confirmed dead at the scene of the accident a few miles southeast of the Hoover Dam in northern Arizona.
The injured were taken to hospitals in Kingman, Arizona, and Las Vegas, in neighboring Nevada, where one passenger subsequently died. Warriner said the tour bus was returning to Las Vegas from a visit to the Grand Canyon on Friday afternoon when it crashed. "All we know is that the vehicle appeared to drift across the right hand side of the highway, then headed back to the center and rolled," he told Reuters by telephone. Warriner said police officers were working with Chinese consular officials to identify the dead and injured.
A Toronto-based online dating service for cheaters has called offside on CTV after the network sacked its Super Bowl commercial. The Ashley Madison Agency, the self-proclaimed "world's premier discreet dating service," produced a 30-second spot to air during Sunday's broadcast of the NFL championship between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals. And although the ad will run in at least one major city in the U.S. during the big game on NBC, it won't see airtime in this country despite being okayed by the Telecaster Committee of Canada to run after 9 p.m.
CTV said in a statment it doesn't want an ad "promoting adultery" running alongside "quality brands" in its Super Bowl advertising roster. That decision left Ashley Madison president Noel Biderman angrier than a jilted lover. "We're just really livid that it's not being seen in the country where the business was born and where it's focused," Biderman said. "I think that absent a regulatory reason, CTV is offside here."
The service, founded in 2001, caters to two-timers and boasts 3.5 million members, Biderman said. On its website, the tagline reads, "Life Is Short. Have An Affair." The ad itself isn't overtly racy and focuses on an attractive woman growing fed up with her distracted, oafish husband on their anniversary date. At the end, after her hubby has deserted her at the table, presumably because of work, she makes eyes with another man on the other side of the room. They both smile at each other. "Isn't it time for Ashley Madison?" a female voice asks.
Not according to CTV -- especially during the ratings bonanza provided by the Super Bowl. Last year's game, also broadcast on CTV, was the most-watched ever in Canada, with 5.15 million viewers across the country. "The Super Bowl attracts a broad audience composed of families, men and women, young and old," said Scott Henderson, a spokesman for the network. "An advertisement for a website promoting adultery does not meet the standards for the quality brands associated with this premier television property and major social event."
However, the same ad will run in the U.S. on ESPN, CNN, FOX News and MSNBC, Biderman pointed out. Biderman accused CTV of being "extremely hypocritical" for spurning his ad while running others for alcohol products, which he said cause more harm than Ashley Madison. Labatt Breweries is one of the advertisers during Sunday's game. Biderman said Ashley Madison doesn't convince anyone to have an affair and merely accommodates people who have already made that decision. "Physical intimacy is no different than requiring oxygen to breathe or water to drink," Biderman said. "If it's missing in your relationship, I don't care who you are ... you're going to step outside your relationship. That's the bottom line."
Actor Robert De Niro's Nobu restaurant chain will settle a lawsuit over tips with waiters and staff at three of his New York establishments for $2.5 million, according to court papers filed on Friday. The settlement comes after two waiters sued in 2007 on behalf of hundreds of workers at three of the exclusive Japanese restaurants. They said they were forced to share tips with management and the chain failed to pay overtime.
Nobu, which De Niro partly owns with chef Nobu Matsuhisa and others, opened in New York's Tribeca area in 1994. It has since expanded to 16 places around the globe. The settlement covers Nobu, Nobu 57 and Nobu Next Door, all in New York. Current employees and ex-employees who worked there between August 2001 and August 2008 will receive an average of $3,300 each, court papers said.
De Niro's spokesman was not immediately available for comment. Carolyn Richmond, a lawyer for Nobu, said Nobu has a reputation for treating employees well and was looking forward to putting the litigation behind it. "These are very uncertain economic times and if this class action lawsuit trend continues over procedural nuances concerning the definition of tip pools, New York City will suffer the needless loss of thousands of jobs and small businesses," she said.
Several lawsuits in the past two years have accused New York restaurants, including some owned by celebrities, of wage violations and unfair labor practices. Among those named in suits were U.S. pop star Justin Timberlake's Southern Hospitality BBQ restaurant, Jay Z's 40/40 Club and Jean Georges owned by French chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. "Top Chef" TV show judge Tom Colicchio's Craftbar in New York was sued in December. Last year Vongerichten agreed to pay $1.75 million after eight waiters filed suit on behalf of all staff at Jean Georges and four of his other New York restaurants.
A hearing to approve the Nobu settlement is set for February 6.
An agreement has been reached in a lawsuit involving Heath Ledger's $10 million life insurance policy. The confidential settlement was revealed in court documents filed Wednesday in Los Angeles. Ledger's lawyers are seeking a closed hearing next month to establish a court guardian to represent the actor's three-year-old daughter, Matilda Rose, who is the policy's beneficiary.
A lawyer for Ledger sued ReliaStar Life Insurance Co. last year, claiming the company was refusing to pay the actor's death benefits. The lawyer claimed the insurer was refusing to pay because it wanted to investigate whether Ledger's death was a suicide. A coroner ruled Ledger's death last January was from an accidental prescription drug overdose.
William Shernoff, who represented Ledger's lawyer, said Thursday that both sides were pleased with the settlement. He declined to discuss specifics of the deal.
Mount Redoubt, a volcano 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, is rumbling and simmering, prompting geologists to warn that an eruption may be imminent. Scientists from the Alaska Volcano Observatory have been monitoring activity round-the-clock since the weekend.
On Thursday, the observatory said: "Seismicity remains above background and largely unchanged with several volcanic earthquakes occurring every hour." The last time the 10,197-foot peak blew was during a five-month stretch starting in December 1989. It disrupted international air traffic and placed a layer of volcanic dust throughout the Anchorage area.
"The level of seismic activity" has "increased markedly" in recent days at the 10,197-foot peak located about 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, the state's most populous city, according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory. "We don't have a crystal ball," said Peter Cervelli, a research geophysicist with the observatory, which is aggressively monitoring the volcano. But "we expect based on the past behavior of this volcano that this activity is going to culminate in an eruption." The activity has consisted "of a combination of discrete, relatively small earthquakes and periods of more continuous volcanic tremor," Cervelli said.
Scientists raised the alert status Sunday to a "watch" level, the second-highest, based on seismic activity detected January 23. The "watch" status means the "volcano is exhibiting heightened or escalating unrest with increased potential of eruption, time frame uncertain, or eruption is under way but poses limited hazards," according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Maureen Burke, 29, a coffee shop manager in Anchorage, said she remembers the last eruption and isn't too worried this time. She said living in Alaska and being close to nature, residents just laugh such events off, dealing with them as they come. Falling ash is a potential problem. The best way to protect yourself from the harmful showers of ash is to wear a mask, Missy Moore, 33, said.
Volcanoes in Alaska, including Redoubt, typically erupt explosively, shooting ash almost eight miles high. Volcanic ash features small, jagged pieces of rock and glass. This differs from volcanoes in Hawaii, which usually have slow rolling lava ooze out. The difference is gas trying to escape gets blocked, possibly by a lava dome or a viscous magma that increases the power from beneath, said observatory geologist Jennifer Adleman. "Its pressure keeps building and building," she said.
Depending on wind, the ash plume could be pushed straight at Anchorage, the state's largest city. This has prompted state and city officials to post bulletins on how to deal with the ash. Tips include staying inside, wearing a mask or wet bandanna if going outside and wearing goggles over contact lenses.
s an administrator and supervisor of Starbright Early Learning Center in Anchorage, Moore said, "it's really not anything to worry about just yet."
If Mount Redoubt covers nearby cities with ash, Moore said the school will adhere to the public school district's guidelines.
"If the [public] school district closes schools, our school closes too. The city of Anchorage advises citizens to stay indoors," Moore said. "The ash can get into your engines and mess up your car."
Shana Medcoff, 17, a barista in Kenai, about 50 miles from the volcano, said residents are encouraged to buy air filters for their cars.
Mount Redoubt last erupted nearly 20 years ago, in December 1989, and that lasted until April 1990. Geologists think there could be an eruption "similar to or smaller than the one that occurred in 1989-90." Learn more about Redoubt and its history »
That eruption spread ash in Kenai and Anchorage, where it disrupted air traffic operations. Cervelli said the ash plumes caused engine failure on a jet.
"It's not the closest volcano to Anchorage," Cervelli said, but "it has the potential to disrupt air traffic at Anchorage."
LIVE REDOUBT VOLCANO WEB CAMERA - Hit refress to get updated image
A better full screen view of the LIVE REDOUBT WEBCAMERA can be found here The 1989-90 volcano also spurred volcanic mudflows, or lahars, that flowed east down the Drift River. The ash fall was seen as far away as Fairbanks and the Yukon Territory border.
The observatory has set up a Web camera near the summit of the volcano and another within Cook Inlet. It plans to do continuous visual surveillance, measure gas output and analyze satellite and weather-radar data.
SLUTS OF JONESBORO BANNED The Jonesboro High School dance team has been suspended for the year after students danced provocatively at a school basketball game.
Clayton County school officials have barred the eight-member dance team from practicing or performing this year, said Jacqueline Evans, a spokeswoman for the district.
Parents complained the girls danced inappropriately at halftime during a Jan. 13 basketball game. A video posted on YouTube showed the girls in thigh-high stockings, tiny shorts and tight shirts dancing on chairs during portions of their routine.
The video, titled “The Sluts of Jonesboro,” has since been taken down. Evans said she didn’t know anything about the video.
“The team will not perform for the remainder of the year, nor will they represent the school in any other performances,” Evans said Tuesday.
School staff investigated the dance and disbanded the team three days later, Evans said. The girls were not disciplined.
The school’s step team will perform at halftime for the remainder of the basketball season. However, all routines must be screened by staff before the performance, Evans said.
LANCELOT ENCORE - LANCEY FIRST COMMERCIALLY CLONED DOG A Boca Raton couple got a new dog, and it's just like their old dog. Not just the same breed and gender, but the same DNA.
Nina and Edgar Otto picked up their cloned yellow lab puppy at the Miami International Airport Monday night. Lancelot Encore was cloned from the DNA of the Ottos' late dog Lancelot, which died of cancer in January 2008. Guessing that pet cloning would one day be possible, the Ottos had DNA samples of their dog frozen five years ago.
The Ottos paid $155,000 in a San Francisco biotech firm's dog-cloning auction last July.
BioArts International created Lancelot Encore in South Korea, where he was born 10 weeks ago. The Ottos say he's the first single-birth, commercially cloned puppy in the United States.
BioArts International announced today that they have delivered the world’s first commercially cloned dog, a 10-week old Labrador named Lancey, to Florida residents Edgar and Nina Otto.
Boca Raton, FL (Vocus) January 28, 2009 -- BioArts International announced today that they have delivered the world's first commercially cloned dog, a 10-week old Labrador named Lancey, to Florida residents Edgar and Nina Otto.
"We can't believe this day is finally here," said Nina Otto, "We are so happy to have little Lancey in our family. His predecessor was a very special dog. We are thrilled beyond words!"
Lancey was hand delivered to the Ottos on Monday, January 26th by BioArts Chairman Lou Hawthorne. "This is a very special milestone for our company – and great fun for me too," said Hawthorne, who delivered Lancey personally.
The Ottos were one of five families to bid and win an auction held by BioArts International in July for a chance to clone their family dog. Lancey's genetic donor, Sir Lancelot, died in January, 2008, and the Ottos had his DNA stored. By October, samples from the original dog were on their way to the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation in Seoul, South Korea, which provides cloning services to BioArts.
Lancey was born on November 18, 2008, and brought to the U.S. on January 25, 2009 after being weaned from his surrogate mother.
The Ottos, longtime residents of Boca Raton, have had many beloved dogs over the years, but Lancey's genetic donor was unique. "Sir Lancelot was the most human of any dog we’ve ever had," said Otto. "He was a prince among dogs."
Said Hawthorne, "One minute with Lancey and you know he's special. He's both extremely aware and very sweet. The Ottos are the first of six current clients to receive their clone. The next 6 months will be very exciting both for our clients and our staff."
Additional information about the Best Friends Again program and dog cloning is available at www.bestfriendsagain.com. More information about BioArts is available at www.bioarts.com.
BioArts International is a biotech company focused on unique, untapped markets in the global companion animal, stem cell and human genomics industries. The Best Friends Again program is a collaboration between BioArts and the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation in South Korea, home to the best and most experienced dog cloning team in the world.
BioArts has been granted the sole, worldwide license for the cloning of dogs, cats and endangered species. The license was granted by Start Licensing, Inc. and applies to the somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) cloning patents developed at the Roslin Institute for the cloning of Dolly the sheep.
Two crew members have been hospitalized for injuries after a FedEx plane crashed at the Lubbock Smith International Airport in Texas.
Officials have released information about a FedEx plane that crashed in Lubbock, Texas, saying that there was a small fire and two crew members were transferred to the hospital.
The injuries are not believed to be severe after the FedEx ATR-42 twin-turboprop plane crashed Tuesday morning.
Federal Aviation Administration and FedEx spokeswoman Sandra Munoz says there was small fire on the plane and was unsure of what the damage was.
According to Munoz, the plane had been traveling from Fort Worth Alliance Airport. While it's unclear how the plane caught fire, freezing rain is what was responsible for the plane skidding off the runway.
Airport officials said both crew members were taken to a hospital, but FedEx officials said both were able to walk away from the crash. The crash happened just after 2:30 Tuesday morning Pacific Time. The plane landed in a freezing mist but officials said weather was not a factor in the incident. The plane was arriving from Fort Worth went it came down at the end of the runway, veered off and caught fire. The fire was quickly extinguished.
Officials noted that it took at least three days for some people to switch from their cars to public transit or to begin working from home after the Pattullo Bridge was closed the morning of Jan. 18. “It’s good that people had a chance to try out these adjustments because in the future it could be anything — a traffic accident or weather — that makes it difficult to travel across the Fraser,” TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie said. “Given that it took three days or so for people to adjust, one of the things that needs to be considered is whether the traffic restructuring for the Olympics shouldn’t go in a week before the Olympics start ... that’s definitely something we’re going to discuss.”
The Pattullo Bridge, which connects Surrey and New Westminster, was expected to be closed for a month after the wooden trestle at its south end was scorched by fire. But TransLink last week announced the bridge would be repaired in two weeks after its engineers secured a piece of bridging deck used in the Canada Line construction from Surespan Construction in Langley. Crews then worked around the clock installing new pilings for the bridge before plunking the new span into the 18-metre section Sunday morning — a week ahead of schedule.
TransLink planned to pave the new section Sunday afternoon and have the bridge open to commuters, cyclists and pedestrians at six this morning. Four lanes at the north end of the bridge were also repaved while the replacement span was being installed. The bridge repair was done quicker than expected, Hardie said, because TransLink was able to get the crews and the materials it needed to replace the wooden trestle. The cost of the bridge repairs was estimated at $1.5 to $2 million and was expected to come out of TransLink’s contingency budget.
“It all just fell into place perfectly,” Hardie said.
The reopening of the bridge, which connects Surrey and New Westminster, will bring relief to commuters and ease the gridlock that has gripped Metro Vancouver bridges and tunnel since the Pattullo was closed. Although TransLink urged commuters to use public transit — adding more SkyTrain cars, starting the service earlier and adding more temporary park-and-ride stations — it appeared Metro Vancouver residents were still choosing to drive. That meant longer lineups and delays across the Alex Fraser and Port Mann bridges and the George Massey Tunnel.
On Tuesday morning, traffic heading north across the Port Mann Bridge was backed up to 200th Street in Langley, while buses had to be rerouted in Guildford as they tried to get to Highway 1. By Friday, Hardie said, it appeared the lineup to the Port Mann was shortened to 176th Street in Surrey. The Pattullo carries about 20 per cent of the traffic passing over the Fraser River in Metro Vancouver. The average traffic volume on the Port Mann Bridge is 127,000 cars a day, while the Alex Fraser Bridge sees 98,000 vehicles daily.
The bridge closure was one of the biggest crises TransLink has had to deal with because the bridge was out for a week, said Hardie. “This is the longest term issue we’ve had to deal with and it’s a major loss of a piece of our network. “What this highlighted is we don’t have a lot of redundancy in the system,” he said. “When something goes down we can’t simply shift the traffic because everything else is busy too. We’ve all had a reminder of how the transit system can be vulnerable and what it means to lose that capacity.”
Hardie said part of the problem was that TransLink was scrambling each day to make adjustments to ease the commute. Although Surrey and New Westminster opened extra park and rides to get more people to take transit, he said there was a lack of signage to help people find those spaces. That was rectified later in the week.
Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts said she was pleased to see the bridge repaired so quickly, but added the incident underscored the need for more infrastructure south of the Fraser River. By 2040, the population of Surrey and White Rock will be bigger than Vancouver’s, she said, but transit growth isn’t keeping up.
The Pattullo, built in 1937, was the first major commuting route between Surrey and communities to the north and west. Over the years, its narrow lanes and sharply curved approaches have been blamed for numerous head-on collisions. Surrey has been lobbying to get it replaced for at least eight years. Although TransLink is planning a new six-lane bridge to replace the Pattullo, it could take six to 10 years before it materializes. The design for the bridge is 85-per-cent done, but it’s still not known exactly where it will be built.
Watts said the bridge fire — and the inconvenience to the travelling public — may spur that process along. Both she and New Westminster Mayor Wayne Wright will continue to push for the new bridge, she said, while she’ll also press for more transit, including light rail and an extended SkyTrain service. In some areas, she said, residents have to wait an hour for a bus. “It’s really important to make sure we have that bridge built as soon as possible,” Watts said. “One of the problems has always been that people south of the Fraser have been really dependent on their vehicles. It’s easier and more reliable to get in your car and drive. “This whole situation has really brought to the forefront the issues we’ve been dealing with.”
Besides transit, Watts said, the issue has also raised the question of how to deal with Surrey’s homeless. TransLink says the fire may have been started by homeless people, who were huddled under the trestle and lit a candle to keep warm or cook a meal. The area was blocked by a chainlink fence. Surrey RCMP are still investigating.
Watts said she will ask the provincial government to provide more outreach workers for Surrey to ensure people aren’t living in areas where they’re not allowed. There’s a shelter nearby. “We’ve got to pay more attention to our vagrants or homeless people who are in places they ought not to be,” she said.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK, with well over 30,000 new cases diagnosed each year. It affects the prostate gland, which is found close to the bladder and makes a component of semen. The Nottingham team, led by Dr Polyxeni Dimitropoulou, recruited more than 400 men diagnosed with prostate cancer, then compared their answers to 409 men thought to be free of the disease.
As well as questions about how often they had been sexually active from puberty onwards, they were asked how many sexual partners they had had and whether they had been diagnosed with any sexual infections. Roughly the same proportion of both groups, 59%, said they had engaged in sexual activity 12 times a month or more in their 20s, falling to 48% in their 30s, 28% in their 40s and 13% in their 50s. Almost two-fifths of the prostate cancer group had had six female partners or more, compared with less than a third of the non-cancer group.
There was also a difference among the men who masturbated or had sex the most often, with 40% of men in the cancer group being sexually active 20 times a month or more in their 20s, compared with 32% in the non-cancer group. The gap between the two groups narrowed as the men aged, suggesting that the difference was strongest at a younger age.
Dr Dimitropoulou said: "What makes our study stand out from previous research is that we focused on a younger age group than normal and included both intercourse and masturbation at various stages in the participants' lives." He said that it was possible that higher levels of sex hormones in some men were both responsible for a high sex drive in their 20s and 30s, and for the development of prostate cancer later on. "Hormones appear to play a key role in prostate cancer and it is very common to treat men with therapy to reduce the hormones thought to stimulate the cancer cells." She said that the reasons why the connection between sexual activity and prostate risk appeared to diminish with advancing age was not clear, although other studies have suggested that sexual activity releases toxins from the gland.
John Neate, chief executive of The Prostate Cancer Charity, said that while the study was useful, its findings would need to be backed by more evidence before they could be accepted He said: "The role of sexual activity is becoming an increasing focus for prostate cancer research but unfortunately this study does little to offer any practical advice to men wishing to reduce their risk of the disease. "The study is retrospective, and asks men to complete a questionnaire about their sexual history. "However, in relying on men to recall information from 20 or 30 years previously, it is likely that there will be some inaccuracy in the data collected as men either consciously or unconsciously forget some detail which could compromise their findings. "The sample used in the study is also relatively small, making it difficult to draw any universal conclusions."
The United States lost 2.6 million jobs last year, the most in any single year since World War II. Manufacturing is at a 28-year low and even Obama's economists say unemployment could top 10 per cent before the recession ends. One in 10 homeowners is at risk of foreclosure and the dollar continues its slide in value.
That harsh reality has dominated Obama's first days in office. He scheduled a meeting late Saturday morning with his economic team.
A day earlier, he invited Democratic and Republican leaders to the White House to hear their ideas on the economy. At that visit, he did not share the details he released Saturday.
Many of the goals in the speech and report were familiar from Obama's two-year campaign, such as shifting to electronic medical records and investing in preventive health care. Other parts added specifics.
Police in the Bahamas have detained a Bahamian lawmaker and a paramedic in connection with an alleged plot to extort money from actor John Travolta.
Few details were available, but officials told the Associated Press that the lawmaker, Pleasant Bridgewater, has been held since Thursday in the case. A second suspect, ambulance driver Tarino Lightbourne, was detained yesterday.
News of her illness attracted attention around the world, and friends said they had received messages of support from many different countries.
---------------------- Here is a previous article on BRAZILIAN MODEL MARIANA BRIDI's struggle to survive
Jan. 23, 2009 -- BRAZILIAN MODEL MARIANA BRIDI DA COSTA, a 20-year-old Brazilian model who has participated in international beauty competitions, is in a hospital in Brazil with a life-threatening infection.
BRAZILIAN MODEL MARIANA BRIDI, a past finalist in the Miss World Brazil competitions, has a severe blood infection called SEPSIS (also known as septicemia) that began when she had a urinary tract infection, according to Bridi da Costa's web site. Because of her illness, BRAZILIAN MODEL MARIANA BRIDI had to have her stomach removed and her feet and hands amputated.
Doctors originally thought BRAZILIAN MODEL MARIANA BRIDI had kidney stones; instead, she had a urinary tract infection caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria, according to media reports. The infection then spread to her blood.
1. CAROLINE KENNEDY was incompetent, and pulled out to avoid the embarrassment of not being picked: This is really the most likely scenario. Her push to start at the top was a bad idea from the beginning. She didn't embody the HOPE of the Obama era. At least all her connections and money landed her some political consultants who were smart enough to tell her to get out while she was—if not ahead—at least not totally destroyed. Odds: Even
There were no other injuries in the incident, which occurred on the Osgoode subway platform at about 10:45 a.m., said Supt. Hugh Ferguson. The station is near several courthouses and the city's opera house. The shooting occurred after a dispute among a group of males who exited a train together at the platform, Ferguson said. It wasn't immediately known how many other people were on the platform at the time.
It was not clear Wednesday morning when the new administration would issue an expected executive order that is to start what could be a long process of closing the detention camp, where about 245 detainees remain.
The prosecution filing Tuesday said the order came from the Secreatary of Defense, Robert M. Gates, “by order of the president.” It described the halt in all proceedings as designed “to permit the newly inaugurated president and his administration time to review the military commission process, generally, and the cases currently pending before the military commissions, specifically.”
The suspension had been expected because, as a candidate, Mr. Obama described the military commissions as a failure and suggested that he may decide to prosecute detainees in existing courts. The military commissions have been criticized as lacking in the basic protections of the American justice system and have been plagued by legal and practical difficulties since the Bush administration first announced its plan for prosecution in the months after the 2001 attacks.
Some Pentagon officials said it was not clear that the new administration would conclude that it should entirely abandon the military commission process, where 21 cases are pending and three detainees have been convicted of war crimes.
Janine SligarJANINE SLIGAR
