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Only In America

Topic: NEWS & KNOWLEDGE1. Only in America...can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance.
2. Only in America...are there handicap parking places in front of a skating rink.
3. Only in America...do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back
of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.
4. Only in America...do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and a diet coke.
5. Only in America...do banks leave both doors open and then chain the pens to the counters.
6. Only in America...do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars
in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.
7. Only in America...do we use answering machines to screen calls and then have
call waiting so we won't miss a call from someone we didn't want to talk to in the first place.
8. Only in America...do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight.
9. Only in America...do we use the word "politics" to describe the process so well:
"Poli" in Latin meaning "many" and "tics" meaning "bloodsucking creatures."
10. Only in America...do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering.
11. Only in America...can a homeless combat veteran live in a cardboard
box and a draft dodger live in the White House.


Beauty is in the nose of the beholder

Topic: NEWS & KNOWLEDGE17:41 13 July 2005
NewScientist.com news service
Andy Coghlan


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Scientists Say Sunshine May Prevent Cancer

Topic: NEWS & KNOWLEDGEScientists are excited about a vitamin again. But unlike fads that sizzled and fizzled, the evidence this time is strong and keeps growing. If it bears out, it will challenge one of medicine's most fundamental beliefs: that people need to coat themselves with sunscreen whenever they're in the sun. Doing that may actually contribute to far more cancer deaths than it prevents, some researchers think.
The vitamin is D, nicknamed the "sunshine vitamin" because the skin makes it from ultraviolet rays. Sunscreen blocks its production, but dermatologists and health agencies have long preached that such lotions are needed to prevent skin cancer. Now some scientists are questioning that advice. The reason is that vitamin D increasingly seems important for preventing and even treating many types of cancer.
In the last three months alone, four separate studies found it helped protect against lymphoma and cancers of the prostate, lung and, ironically, the skin. The strongest evidence is for colon cancer.
Many people aren't getting enough vitamin D. It's hard to do from food and fortified milk alone, and supplements are problematic.
So the thinking is this: Even if too much sun leads to skin cancer, which is rarely deadly, too little sun may be worse.
No one is suggesting that people fry on a beach. But many scientists believe that "safe sun" — 15 minutes or so a few times a week without sunscreen — is not only possible but helpful to health.
One is Dr. Edward Giovannucci, a Harvard University professor of medicine and nutrition who laid out his case in a keynote lecture at a recent American Association for Cancer Research meeting in Anaheim, Calif.
His research suggests that vitamin D might help prevent 30 deaths for each one caused by skin cancer.
"I would challenge anyone to find an area or nutrient or any factor that has such consistent anti-cancer benefits as vitamin D," Giovannucci told the cancer scientists. "The data are really quite remarkable."
The talk so impressed the American Cancer Society's chief epidemiologist, Dr. Michael Thun, that the society is reviewing its sun protection guidelines. "There is now intriguing evidence that vitamin D may have a role in the prevention as well as treatment of certain cancers," Thun said.
Even some dermatologists may be coming around. "I find the evidence to be mounting and increasingly compelling," said Dr. Allan Halpern, dermatology chief at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, who advises several cancer groups.

The dilemma, he said, is a lack of consensus on how much vitamin D is needed or the best way to get it.
No source is ideal. Even if sunshine were to be recommended, the amount needed would depend on the season, time of day, where a person lives, skin color and other factors. Thun and others worry that folks might overdo it.
"People tend to go overboard with even a hint of encouragement to get more sun exposure," Thun said, adding that he'd prefer people get more of the nutrient from food or pills.
But this is difficult. Vitamin D occurs naturally in salmon, tuna and other oily fish, and is routinely added to milk. However, diet accounts for very little of the vitamin D circulating in blood, Giovannucci said.
Supplements contain the nutrient, but most use an old form — D-2 — that is far less potent than the more desirable D-3. Multivitamins typically contain only small amounts of D-2 and include vitamin A, which offsets many of D's benefits.

As a result, pills might not raise vitamin D levels much at all.

Government advisers can't even agree on an RDA, or recommended daily allowance for vitamin D. Instead, they say "adequate intake" is 200 international units a day up to age 50, 400 IUs for ages 50 to 70, and 600 IUs for people over 70.

Many scientists think adults need 1,000 IUs a day. Giovannucci's research suggests 1,500 IUs might be needed to significantly curb cancer.

How vitamin D may do this is still under study, but there are lots of reasons to think it can:

_Several studies observing large groups of people found that those with higher vitamin D levels also had lower rates of cancer. For some of these studies, doctors had blood samples to measure vitamin D, making the findings particularly strong. Even so, these studies aren't the gold standard of medical research — a comparison over many years of a large group of people who were given the vitamin with a large group who didn't take it. In the past, the best research has deflated health claims involving other nutrients, including vitamin E and beta carotene.

_Lab and animal studies show that vitamin D stifles abnormal cell growth, helps cells die when they are supposed to, and curbs formation of blood vessels that feed tumors.

_Cancer is more common in the elderly, and the skin makes less vitamin D as people age.

_Blacks have higher rates of cancer than whites and more pigment in their skin, which prevents them from making much vitamin D.

_Vitamin D gets trapped in fat, so obese people have lower blood levels of D. They also have higher rates of cancer.

_Diabetics, too, are prone to cancer, and their damaged kidneys have trouble converting vitamin D into a form the body can use.

_People in the northeastern United States and northerly regions of the globe like Scandinavia have higher cancer rates than those who get more sunshine year-round.

During short winter days, the sun's rays come in at too oblique an angle to spur the skin

to make vitamin D. That is why nutrition experts think vitamin D-3 supplements may be especially helpful during winter, and for dark-skinned people all the time.

But too much of the pill variety can cause a dangerous buildup of calcium in the body. The government says 2,000 IUs is the upper daily limit for anyone over a year old.

On the other hand, D from sunshine has no such limit. It's almost impossible to overdose when getting it this way. However, it is possible to get skin cancer. And this is where the dermatology establishment and Dr. Michael Holick part company.

Thirty years ago, Holick helped make the landmark discovery of how vitamin D works. Until last year, he was chief of endocrinology, nutrition and diabetes and a professor of dermatology at Boston University. Then he published a book, "The UV Advantage," urging people to get enough sunlight to make vitamin D.

"I am advocating common sense," not prolonged sunbathing or tanning salons, Holick said.

Skin cancer is rarely fatal, he notes. The most deadly form, melanoma, accounts for only 7,770 of the 570,280 cancer deaths expected to occur in the United States this year.

More than 1 million milder forms of skin cancer will occur, and these are the ones tied to chronic or prolonged suntanning.

Repeated sunburns — especially in childhood and among redheads and very fair-skinned people — have been linked to melanoma, but there is no credible scientific evidence that moderate sun exposure causes it, Holick contends.

"The problem has been that the American Academy of Dermatology has been unchallenged for 20 years," he says. "They have brainwashed the public at every level."

The head of Holick's department, Dr. Barbara Gilchrest, called his book an embarrassment and stripped him of his dermatology professorship, although he kept his other posts.

She also faulted his industry ties. Holick said the school has received $150,000 in grants from the Indoor Tanning Association for his research, far less than the consulting deals and grants that other scientists routinely take from drug companies.

In fact, industry has spent money attacking him. One such statement from the Sun Safety Alliance, funded in part by Coppertone and drug store chains, declared that "sunning to prevent vitamin D deficiency is like smoking to combat anxiety."

Earlier this month, the dermatology academy launched a "Don't Seek the Sun" campaign calling any advice to get sun "irresponsible." It quoted Dr. Vincent DeLeo, a Columbia University dermatologist, as saying: "Under no circumstances should anyone be misled into thinking that natural sunlight or tanning beds are better sources of vitamin D than foods or nutritional supplements."

That opinion is hardly unanimous, though, even among dermatologists.

"The statement that 'no sun exposure is good' I don't think is correct anymore," said Dr. Henry Lim, chairman of dermatology at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit and an academy vice president.

Some wonder if vitamin D may turn out to be like another vitamin, folate. High intake of it was once thought to be important mostly for pregnant women, to prevent birth defects. However, since food makers began adding extra folate to flour in 1998, heart disease, stroke, blood pressure, colon cancer and osteoporosis have all fallen, suggesting the general public may have been folate-deficient after all.

With vitamin D, "some people believe that it is a partial deficiency that increases the cancer risk," said Hector DeLuca, a University of Wisconsin-Madison biochemist who did landmark studies on the nutrient.

About a dozen major studies are under way to test vitamin D's ability to ward off cancer, said Dr. Peter Greenwald, chief of cancer prevention for the National Cancer Institute. Several others are testing its potential to treat the disease. Two recent studies reported encouraging signs in prostate and lung cancer.

As for sunshine, experts recommend moderation until more evidence is in hand.

"The skin can handle it, just like the liver can handle alcohol," said Dr. James Leyden,

professor emeritus of dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania, who has consulted for sunscreen makers.

"I like to have wine with dinner, but I don't think I should drink four bottles a day."

___



















Never Pass Up A Lemonade Stand.....:)

Topic: NEWS & KNOWLEDGEAlexandra 'Alex' Scott battled neuroblastoma, an aggressive childhood cancer, for sev and a half years. Through the years she continued to amaze and inspire all who knew her with her positive outlook and incredible strength.

When she was just four years old, Alex asked if she could have a lemonade sale to raise money for "her hospital". Her mother told her that it might be difficult to raise money fifty cents at a time; Alex's response was "I don't care, I will do it anyway”. In July of 2000, she made good on that promise and raised over $2,000 for Connecticut Children's Medical Center.

In March of 2001, Alex and her family moved to the Philadelphia area to pursue experimental treatment options. Once again, Alex was determined to have a lemonade stand, this time for her "new hospital". In fall of 2001 she held a stand and raised $600 for Neuroblastoma research at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

On June 22, 2002, Alex held another lemonade stand and dedicated it to her friend Toireasa, who had recently lost her battle with neuroblastoma. She raised $18,000 and donated all the proceeds in Toireasa’s name to neuroblastoma research at CHOP.

In June 2003, Alex held her most successful lemonade stand up until then. Despite pouring rain people flocked to Alex's Lemonade Stand to support her efforts to raise money for cancer research. On June 12, 2004, Alex's original stand raised nearly $40,000 in 3 hours. People across the country joined in and held stands on June 12th, raising an amazing $220,000 in one day.

In 2004, Alex's Lemonade Stand, with the help of generous people around the country setting up lemonade stands, sending donations and holding other fundraisers, more than $1.5 million was raised.


Alex’s fundraising efforts have gone way beyond raising thousands of dollars for her favorite charities. Her story has inspired people to improve our world by helping themselves and helping others. Many other children have held their own fundraisers, in Alex’s name, to fight childhood cancer. These range from holding lemonade stands to forgoing birthday presents and having donations go to Alex's Fund to creating an Awesome Alex Teddy Bear to loose change collections along with many other fundraisers.

On August 1, 2004, Alex died peacefully at the age of 8 after battling cancer for 7 ½ years. Alex’s spirited determination to raise awareness and money for all childhood cancer while she bravely fought her own deadly battle with cancer has inspired thousands of people, from all walks of life to raise money and give to her cause. Alex’s family and supporters are committed to continuing her inspiring legacy through the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.

Just an inspiring story....:)




What Women Want In Men

Topic: NEWS & KNOWLEDGE

What Women Want in a Man, Original List (age 22)

1. Handsome
2. Charming
3. Financially successful.
4. A caring listener
5. Witty
6. In good shape
7. Dresses with style
8. Appreciates finer things
9. Full of thoughtful surprises
10. An imaginative, romantic lover


What Women Want in a Man, Revised List (age 32)

1. Nice looking-prefer hair on his head
2. Opens car doors, holds chairs
3. Has enough money for a nice dinner
4. Listens more than talks
5. Laughs at my jokes
6. Carries bags of groceries with ease
7. Owns at least one tie
8. Appreciates a good home-cooked meal
9. Remembers birthdays and anniversaries
10. Seeks romance at least once a week

What women Want in a Man, Revised List (age 42)

1. Not too ugly-bald head OK
2. Doesn't drive off until I'm in the car
3. Works steady-splurges on dinner out occasionally
4. Nods head when I'm talking
5. Usually remembers punch lines of jokes
6. Is in good enough shape to rearrange the furniture
7. Wears a shirt that covers his stomach
8. Knows not to buy champagne with screw-top lids
9. Remembers to put the toilet seat down
10. Shaves on most weekends


What Women Want in a Man, Revised List (age 52)

1. Keeps hair in nose and ears trimmed
2. Doesn't belch or scratch in public
3. Doesn't borrow money too often
4. Doesn't nod off to sleep when I'm venting
5. Doesn't re-tell the same joke too many times
6. Is in good enough shape to get off couch on weekends
7. Usually wears matching socks and fresh underwear
8. Appreciates a good TV dinner
9. Remembers your name on occasion
10. Shaves some weekends


What Women Want in a Man, Revised List (age 62)

1. Doesn't scare small children
2. Remembers where bathroom is
3. Doesn't require much money for upkeep
4. Only snores lightly when asleep
5. Remembers why he's laughing
6. Is in good enough shape to stand up by himself
7. Usually wears some clothes
8. Likes soft foods
9. Remembers where he left his teeth
10. Remembers that it's the weekend


What Women Want in a Man, Revised List (age 72)

1. Breathing
2. Doesn't miss the toilet


I Can't Believe We Made It!!......written by unknown

Topic: NEWS & KNOWLEDGEAccording to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 30's, 40's,50's,60's,70's, or even early 80's, probably shouldn't have survived.

Baby cribs were covered with bright lead-based paint.
No child-proof lids or locks on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets.

Not too metion the risks taken while hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seatbelts or airbags.

Riding in the back of a pick-up truck on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank from the garden hose and not from a bottle!

We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps of wood and then rode down the hill, only to find out we forgot the bra After runnig into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the street lights came on. No one was able to reach us all day.

We did not have playstations, nintendo 64, x-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no satellite, no video tape movies, surround sound, personal cell phones, personal computers, or internet.

We had friends!! went outside and found them.

We played dodge ball, and sometimes the ball would really hurt.

We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. they were accidents. No one to blame but us.

We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it.

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out any eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rang the bell or just walked in and talked to them.

tle League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment.

Some students weren't as smart as others, so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat it again.

Tests were not adjusted for any reason.

The idea of our parents bailing us out if we got in trouble at school or broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the school or the law!!

We didn't spend tons of time and money medicating our kids for their behavior problems.

We had freedom and responsibility---and we learned how to deal with it.



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