Man trapped in Elevator for 41 hours

The latest story all over the itnernet and the news is the story of a man who 10 years ago was trapped in an elevator for 41 hours. Just recently has the actual footage appeared. Nicholas White is the mans name and he made an appearance on Good Morning America recently. He was trapped in a building in the city, and sued the company and won. Many people like this story because it is a common fear of many people. A lot fo people are afraid tog et trapped in elevators, and always think it whenever they are on one. This man is very lucky he wasn't in there long enough to use up all the oxygen. I have a feeling less people will be using the elevators after hearing this story, if they dont already take the stairs. Elevators are nto for me, I take the stairs whenever I can.

Earthquakes in Reno

California has always been known for its earthquakes, havging the most out fo any other state in the U.S. The most recent quake hit Reno yesterday at 11:40 p.m. It was rated at a 4.7, and was the biggest to hit reno since 1953. The city had been previously experiencing mild trembles for about two months until the big one yesterday. This one was strong enough to move rocks on hillsides, empty store shelves, and crack walls in people's houses. Seismologists are calling this unusual because the aftershocks seem to be getting stronge, while the normal pattern is for them to decrease over time. Scientists are urging residents to stay alert and prepare for maybe an even bigger earthquake to come. http://news.aol.com/story/_a/reno-urged-to-prepare-for-big-quake/20080426191309990001

Sleep

You always hear people say that they couldn't sleep last night, or they fell asleep really late because they couldn't fall asleep at a normal time. Many Americans do suffer from mild insomina, some worse than others. But there are thigns you can do to insure you get a better nights sleep, without medicine. The following are ways to get to sleep easier. Mnay people take sleeping pills, but a natural herb called valerian might work better, without making you feel groggy int he morning. Although it would tkae about 2 weeks to build into your system. Eating heavier in the day makes your body wokr harder to digest, tiring you out by night time. Cutting out caffeine and alcohol late in the day can help as well. Exercising earlier in the day and drinking a lot fo water can help your body to stay well rested also. Napping sho9rt periods of time like 15 to 30 minutes have shown to be benmeficial, and they do not take away your sleep time at night. Anythign more will cut into your normal sleep cycle time. Next, do not force yourself to sleep, this does nothign. Only sleep when your sleepy, because your body has iots own schedule. And lastly, amke a schedule and stick to it, try not to go to bed later thna usual on some ngihts because this will disrupt the pattern.

Papal Visit

Today marked a historic day in Catholic history. Pope Benedict XVI celebrated a two hour and fifteen minute mass at Yankee Stadium. It was a very ncie day under a sunny sky with a cool breeze, a eprfect day to brign a closure to his 6 day visit to the UNited States. The estimated crowd of people came to over 60,000 followers of the catholic faith. The purpose was to call for unity among Catholics, to declare that “true freedom” often requires authority and obedience, and to speak out against abortion, an issue over which many American Catholics disagree with the church. This was the third time the papal amss was held at yankee stadium, but will never be again since it is bing knocked down and getting replaced. The pope said in his homily that “authority” and “obedience” are “not easy words to speak nowadays,” particularly “in a society which rightly places a high value on personal freedom.” But, the pope added, “The Gospel teaches us that true freedom, the freedom of the children of God, is found only in the self-surrender which is part of the mystery of love. Only by losing ourselves, the Lord tells us, do we truly find ourselves.”

NCAA Final Four Results

Yesterday April 5th was a huge day in college basketball, with the Final Four teams being reduced down to two. What a fun set of games to watch yesterday as the Memphis Tigers took on the UCLA Bruins in the first game of the day. Memphis prevailed over UCLA as expected. But the North Carolina Tar Heels, whose offense has been arguably the best in the league all season long, fell the the Kansas Jayhawks in the second game in a huge upset. The championship game should be an interesting one with Memphis' outstanding defense and the jayhawks god al around playing style. I cannot wait for this game, it should be a very exciting one.

Breakfast

Eating when you wake up o start your day is one of the smartest dieting moves you can do. It's true that breakfast is in fact the most important meal of the day. Most breakfast foods include sugar, other carbohydrates and many calories. Occassionally eggs and things with fats and cholesterol anre fine. But many people stay away from breakfast in the morning. This is not smart, you need the boost of energy ad fuel for your body to work with when starting your entire day out. Staying away from this causes the body to overwork itself, using stored food from the night before to run on. This messes up your whole pattern of food intake and metabolism. Studies have revealed that people who eat breakfast are more fit and have less body mass index than people who do not. So from now on, indulge in a good bowl of cereal and perhaps a banana every morning, it isnt bad for you.

An unlucky soul

A sad story about a young girl in Florida took place last Saturday. A high school senior whos name wont be mentioned, had a rare but fatal reaction while in the hospital. This young beautiful girl as she wa was undergoing a breast augmentation surgery. Nearly two hours into the surgery she had a hyperthermic reaction to the anesthesia used in the surgery. Hyperthermia is an aggregated state of heat in the body, where the body absorbs more heat than it can cool off. This is associated with heat stroke or sun stroke, same concept. The girl was rushed to the hospital and died nearly 24 hours later. This story has raised an idea in my head and I feel the need to say this. It seems that surgery has become less and less serious over the years. Plastic surgery is a great thing, but only if you need it. For instance if you have an accident and your face gets completely torn apart or something then plastic surgery is wonderful. But so many young girls who dont think their breasts are big enough say hey let me just get surgery. They dont think of the consequences and dont realize that anesthesia is not perfect. There have been cases where people have not woken up from it, or some sort of reaction takes place. So my point is, why go for surgery when it isn't completely necessary? People need to treat the idea of having surgery a little more seriously from now on.

adding alcohol to a healthy diet?

I bet you have heard before that a glass of wine or two at diner everyday can be a good thing right? Well a couple recent studies, according to an article in the New York Times this week, have shown that moderate drinking can definetly lower a persnos risk for cardiovascular disease. It has shown to be effective in middle-aged person's who may have a dirnk or two a day. 7,697 healthy men and women betwen the ages of 45 and 64 were used in this study. Only 442 of these people were non-drinkers, whob started as a result fo the study. They became moderate drinkers for 6 years. Some activities like smoking whcih can increase the chances of heart disease were controlled in these people. The results showed that the new mdoerate drinkers were 38% less likely than the others who did not drink to have a heart attack. These people had lower cholesterol and blood pressure as well on average. There was no icnrease in mortality either. So, moderate alcohol consumption can be part of a healthy lifestyle.

Creative Non-fiction

There are many different genres of literature, as there are of movies, plays, etc... One interesting genre of literature is called creative non-fiction. Non-Fiction, for starters is any type of literature that is not made up. The events, or characters are real, they exist. Some examples of nonfiction are newspaper articles, technical writing or journalism perhaps. Fiction on the other hand is any piece of literature that has imaginary aspects to it, like novels and short stories for example. The characters can be made up, or the whole entire story can be made up by the author. It is the creative aspect of creative nonfiction that makes these true stories more interesting for the reader. This is also known as literary or narrative nonfiction. It is a genre of writing which uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives. It differs from these simple nonfiction pieces, because it can be very appealing to read. These are actual stories which provide facts as well as a secure authority for claims that are made. Therefore they may send specific messages and back up their arguments, using character and literary elements to convey the message.
One of these stories could make use of all the same literary elements and techniques authors of fiction novels could use. This can be a tricky task considering the fact that you must abide by the actual events of real life. Therefore the objective of these stories so to speak is to provide information like a news reporter, but in a way that appeals to the reader like a fiction book. Some literary works that resemble this form of writing are personal essays, food writing, a simple biography, or perhaps a memoir. This is a fairly new genre or style of writing, and not many authors have made much use of it till this date.
A woman by the name of Barbara Lounsberry, a literary critic, wrote a book called The Art of Fact, where she suggests four characteristics of this specific genre. The first she says is “Documented subject matter chosen from the real world as opposed to invented from the writer’s mind.” By this she is saying that all the events displayed in the text exist and can be verified. The second characteristic she calls “Exhaustive Research”, which she says allows the writer to “gain a novel perspective on his or her subject and permits him to establish the credibility of his narrative with many references for support. The third characteristic she calls, “The Scene.” This is where the author describes the context of the events in a more vivid way that and journal or newspaper would do. The fourth characteristic she calls “Fine writing: a literary prose style”. This is where the writer shows off his talent and ability. Combine all of this and you have a good creative nonfiction story.
In recent years, many of the well publicized works have been severely questioned in the United States for their truthfulness and factual standards. Some people have accused writers of “glorification of interpretation,” and even fabrication. When you fabricate something you use small little white lies so to speak to change the truth. Authors of the genre argue that we are reading literature, allowing for our own interpretation of a topic and our own opinion on a subject matter from our own perspective. The book we just read, The Curve of Binding Energy by John McPhee is a perfect example of creative nonfiction. John McPhee has other works of this genre as well; he is one of the authors who like to write in this new genre of literature.

A mistake by many parents

According to an article in the New York Times by Tara Parker Pope, a way to keep your child healthy is to keep a television out fo his or her room. It is estimated that at least half most likely more than half of American children have a television in their bedroom. And recent research suggests a link between this and possible health and educational problems. Limiting what your child watches with parental control is half the battle, the other half is controlling where they watch tv. Most parents have reported ebign un aware fo how much tv their children are watching at night time. This leads to less sleep causing poorer performance in school. This also makes them spend less time on school work and decreases the time kids read more and more. In a study on children ages 12 to 14, more than 40 percent of them smoked. Who would have thought all this television could elad to increased smoking in children and young teens. It possibly may be because they spend so much time in thier rooms, having less involvement with their parents, which allows them to get mislead. And obviously studies have also shown that the chidren who have televisions in their bedrooms tend to be heavier than other children or perhaps even obiese. The fact remains that children no matter how young nowadays have a television in their room, even as young as kindergarten kids, and they all know how to turn it on and watch what they want to watch. This is a problem because children should be doing something else with all this time that they spend watching television. Growing up I watched tv in the living room, and when I was young I remember my mother telling me it was late and time to go to bed, end of story.

The single most effective work out

Surprisingly, the most basic and simple exercise is the best one a person could possibly do. It is the ultimate test of strength, the push-up. World wide, the push up is known to be the absolute best thing for fitness. A push up makes you push your entire body weight off the floor. It incorporates many different muscles in your upper body, as well as some in your lower. Keeping you body in a plank like form for the entire time uses your hip muscles as well as your abdomen. As far as upper body goes, you are using your chest, triceps, shoulders, and back all in one motion. This builds up strength as well as endurance. The object is to do as many of these as possible, therefore increasing your muscle endurance. More than half of the population is not fit enough to do even 1 push up the right way. It is an exercise that has always been associated with men, but women should do them too. A 40 year old man should be able to do at least 27 at once, while a woman of the same age should be able to do at least 16 at once to be considered fit enough. Believe it or not, a man by the name of Jack Lalanne back in the day set the world record of doing 1,000 push ups in 23 minutes, that’s something that would take severely intense training. So if you ever want to get in shape, you don’t need anything except the will power. Just drop down and push up.

Sea Pollution; our fault.

A recent topic of discussion among scientists is the increasing water pollution today. According to an article by Andrew C. Revkin in the New York Times, our water has gotten very dirty. This pollution has caused the ecosystems to be disrupted making the water not suitable for certain species, either endangering them or causing them to migrate to different waters. Coral Reefs have suffered a lot from the pollution. About 40% of the waters are strongly affected. "The billions of tons of carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere from fuel burning each year gets absorbed by the water, where it forms carbonic acid." This is what is changing the pH levels of the water. This could perhaps kill off reef-building species and other speices. organisms clinging to ships have caused marine invasions, like the zebra mussels to America, and the comb jellyfish to the Black Sea. It seems we did not see the extent of our impact on the waters.

Revkin, Andrew. "Human Shadows on the Seas" New York Times. March 8th, 2008.

species encyclopedia

Encyclopedia sets can cost thousands of dollars and take up an entire book shelf with the many volumes. But, scientists have been trying to create something much simpler. Imagine an encyclopedia of all 1.8 million known species in the world. All comprised into one volume, no books, no bookshelves. This is precisely what is being created, a web-site named the Encyclopedia of Life. This web-sit wil allow you to find any species quick and easily, with every bit of information accessible on that one page. It is being written by an international team of scientists. So far they haven't even covered .1 million of the species, already amounting to 30,000 pages. They hope to finish it sometime in the next decade or so. They still have more than 1.7 million species to go, but one day it will all pay off. Until then we must visit the library and search though huge bulky encyclopedia volumes for the information we need.

Zimmer, Carl. "The Encyclopedia of Life, No Bookshelf Required" New York Times. March 7th, 2008.

Sugar Power for Cell Phones

Drinking sugary soda gives you a burst of energy. Some day, sugar might power electronic equipment as well. That's because scientists have now found a way to turn sugar into electricity. If they can find a way to make the technology work on a large scale, you may some day share your sweet drinks with your handheld video game player or cell phone. The new strategy involves fuel cells, which are devices that use chemical reactions to produce electrical currents. And the new fuel cells that run on it are biodegradable, so the technology wouldn't hurt the environment. The scientists are now trying to use different enzymes that will get more power from sugar molecules. They predict that popular products may be using the new technology in as little as 3 years. This is a great step in science advancement.

Metabolic syndrome and Diet Soda?

Zero Carbs, Zero Calories, and only a few miligrams of sodium in an entire bottle of soda, why not? Yes people, this is what diet soda consists of, nothign but water and chemicals for taste. People have been drinking diet soda hoping to lose weight for years now, but why have these people not been satisfied. Yes it can very well be because of their behavior, most people will indulge inother places if they have a diet soda, for a balance effect. But maybe it is something more, than behavior, maybe it is the diet soda who is doing all this. Diet soda is now linked to metabolic syndrome,which consists of abdominal obesity, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, and high blood pressure. Who ever would have thought this could happen, something wiht nof at opr calories could give youa belly, something with no sugar can raise your blood sugar, or something with hardly any sodium could raise your blood pressure? Well, a study was conducted by a few researchers, and the results were astounding. People ages 45 to 64 were monitored for nine years, the people whod rnak diet soda regularly had a 34% higher risk for developing some of these aspects of metabolic syndrome than peopel who do not drink diet soda. Lyn M. Steffen, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota said, "Why is this happening? Is there some kind of chemical in the diet soda..." I think this needs to be thoroughly investigated and figured out soon. I have been saying diet soda is no good for you for years and I refuse to drink it. But I would like to know for sure once and for all.

Irregular Exercise Pattern May Add Pounds

The consequences of quitting exercise may be greater than previously thought, according to a new study from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory that determined that the weight gained during an exercise hiatus can be tough to shed when exercise is resumed at a later date.The study, conducted by Paul Williams of Berkeley Lab’s Life Sciences Division, found that the key to staying trim is to remain active year-round, year-after-year, and to avoid seasonal and irregular exercise patterns. Most of all, don't quit. Failure to do so may be a contributing factor in the nation’s obesity epidemic.The study should prompt people to think twice before taking a break from their exercise regimens, despite the pressures of family and work obligations, or waning motivation. I know from exercising, that it has many benefits. You feel better, you look better and have more energy. Everyone should exercise.

Tobacco Addiction Greater in Teens!

All you girls and guys out there who think that a cigarette every now and then is fine, you're wrong. Many or atleast all adolescents report being social smokers, like every once in a while when you go out or something, maybe one or two a week. Most report smoking maybe one cigarette a day, thinking it isnt a big deal. And I can udnerstand where they are coming from, because it does nto feel like a big deal. Even for me, when i have smoked a cigarette, I don't feel it afterwards, I feel like I can smoke another one right after. The reason for this is, according to studeis by Dr. DiFranza, a medicine specialist at the University of Massachusetts, that tolerence levels in the brains of adolescents are greater than that of adults. A normal adult smoker can have a cigarette but cannot smoke another right after, they feel the effects of it, and usually wait 45 minutes to smoke another. But a single cigarette can mildly affect an adolescent, causing them to smoke more and more in an unreasonable amount of time. This is how addiction starts in most teens these days. So the next time you smoke a cigarette, do not use the excuse that it is only one and nothing is going to happen. Yes, it is very easy to get hooked on cigarettes, especially if you are young.

Be cautious of thetoys you buy your kids!

Many toys for children out there have small parts which can be swallowed. Every once in a while kids will swallow small objects, which for the most part will pass through their system. But in the case of four year old Braden Elberte of San Jose California, according to an article in the New York Times Science section by Nicholas Bakalar, the object did not pass. Braden had told his mother that he swallowed a small magnet by accident one night, but that was no big deal because it would pass on its own. But Braden accidentally swallowed another magnet the next day. 72 hours later Braden started experiencing pain in his left abdomen. His parents, being on the safe side, took him to get an x-ray. Turns out that the original magnet did not pass, and the second one had gotten stuck to the other, pinching some bowel tissue. Dr. Dutta used laparoscopic surgery to remove the magnets and the boy turned out fine. But this could have perhaps been potentially fatal if the matter was ignored. Thankfully the parents decided tot ake him for an x-ray even though he wasnt in much pain. It could have ended up worse over time. This just goes to show you how dangerous some toys can be for kids.

Fossils of New Meat-Eating Dinos Found

"Fossil hunters say they have discovered bones of two massive meat-eating dinosaurs in Africa. University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno and co-author Stephen Brusatte named one Kryptops palaios, or "old hidden face," because of a horny covering over its face. They named the other Eocarcharia dinops, or "fierce-eyed dawn shark," for its razor-sharp teeth and bony brow.
Both were about 25 feet long and stood 7 feet high at the hip. Kryptops had a short snout with teeth better for gnawing, leading the scientists to believe it was more of a scavenger.
Eocarcharia's brow was so pronounced that Sereno thinks it was used for head-butting rivals to win over potential mates.
"The only thing I can think of is they were smacking each other with it," Sereno said.
The creatures lived at a time when land bridges connected Africa to India and even Antarctica, which was then a temperate home to dinosaurs. But Africa later became isolated and its dinosaurs followed unique evolutionary paths scientists have just begun to uncover.
Sereno's group found the new species during a 2000 expedition to the Niger desert. They found bones from about a dozen new species, and stumbled across one of the richest archaeological sites that's been found in the region.
"We have not released even half of all that we found there," Sereno said.

http://news.yahoo.com/dinosaur_discovery;ylt=A0WTcVjyPbpH4IQBUAsPLBIF

These discoveries give you a perspective on life. There were beings on earth before us. These discoveries are a great way to get a better understanding of our lives.

SUPERBOWL XLII

Well they did it, the New York Football Giants proved everyone wrong and came out victorious in Superbowl XLII. What a way to shock the world, beating the almost perfect 18-1 New England Patriots; a team that absolutely dominated the regular season and the playoffs with their star quarter back Tom Brady, arguably the best quarterback of all time, and their unstoppable offense. they have been scoring touchdown after touchdown in every game. When Plaxico Burress of the NYG predicted a 23 to 17 NYG victory, Tom Brady only could laugh at the fact that he thought the Pats would only score 17 points. But I think Burress knew this was a possibility because of his team's outstanding defense. The New York Giants all season have been known for their explosive pass rush and defensive line, they have been putting extreme pressure on every quarterback in the league. Thanks to people like Osi Umenyiora and Michael Strahan, offensive linemen ahve been fearing the Giants all year. And in Superbowl XLII, the Ginats' defensive line did exactly what they were doing all season. They gave Tom Brady a serious challenge and sacked him a few times as well. The Pats were only able to score two touchdowns for a total of 14 points. Meanwhile, the giants offense got help from an unusual wide receiver David Tyree. He came up with a touchdowna dn a play that saved the game for the giants late in the 4th quarter, with an amazing catch using his helmet to gain possession of the ball. There was less than a minute on the time clcok, and Eli Manning came up big and moved the ball down the feild just in time, giving the winning touchdown pass to his elad receiver Plaxico Burress to make a final score of 17-14 in favor of the New York Giants. This was the greatest football game I have ever seen and I am so happy ffor the Giants. They deserved to win the championship, all of their players came out and played with the heart of a champion in tht game. They stopped an almost perfect New England Patriot team in their tracks righ before the finish line and went down in history. Congratulations to the New York Giants franchise and hope they come up big next season as well.

Statins: A Misunderstanding

Statins are one of the most prescribed drugs in the world, and they do work just as they are supposed to. These are drugs like Vytorin, Lipitor, Crestor, Pravachol, etc... They are made to lower cholesterol, therefore reducing the risk of a heart attack. But here is where the misconception comes in. Most users do not have established heart disease, they just have high cholesterol. Therefore these users may think it helps them to live longer, but they are actually not helping as much as people may think. Studies have shown that statins did not lower mortality on the same group of people. The reason is that just because these drugs help the heart, they are not helping the patient. Heart disease can have other affects on a person as well that must be looked at. These drugs are definetly overrated in my opinion and somewhat misunderstood. Some patients may think these drugs are prolonging their life, but there is no proof to show that they are. Another problem with these drugs is that their side effects have not been studied well enough. Some side effects are reported to be muscle pain and cognitive problems. Dr. Uffe Ravnskov, a retired Swedish physician, has said that "Statins have side effects that are underrated." It's much more frequent and serious than has been reported." Ask anyone who uses these drugs, some days you can really feel these side effects a lot more than you are supposed to. The point is, although they are great drugs, they are not all that they are cracked up to be.