That Takes Ovaries

New eating disorders hit the market

Two new eating disorders have entered the mill joining classics like overeating, bulimia, and anorexia. The two eating disorders in question are adult picky eating and orthorexia or excessive healthy eating. Adult picky eating is considered so when taken to the extreme of eating to the point that the person can only eat a dozen or so different foods and orthorexia is when the person eats so excessively healthy that they loose an extreme amount of weight. One woman diagnosed took it so far that she would only eat raw cauliflower and broccoli and lost nearly 60 pounds because of it.

Neither of these disorders is listed as an official eating disorder and so treatment is not covered by insurance. However, each has a number of serious side affects including extreme wight loss or weight gain and malnutrition.

I personally don't think adult picky eating can be considered a disorder. I am a picky eater but I can always find something to eat. It's not a disorder to have certain tastes. If yoy don't like spinach you shouldn't have to eat it. Listing these things as a disorder only makes people feel bad about themselves and is probably adding to the issues we face in society.

http://health.yahoo.net/experts/dayinhealth/new-eating-disorders-are-they-real

Isom's Orchard

Children's games too dangerous

New York politicians came dangerously close to passing a ball that would deem popular children's games like wiffle ball, kick ball, red rover and tag too dangerous for day camp goers. These games are deemed risky of significant injury.

Many were angered over the attempt to regulat beloved games. Republican Patricia Ritchie stated "It's overregulation by the state of things that have been around for years and years."

Personally, I think its ridiculous and outrageous. Any kid that doesn't live in a box has played one if not all of these games and they only bettered them. You know what these games are called? EXCERCISE! What ever happened to getting out and doing something? Apparently the democrats of New York would rather be fat and lazy. Play hard or don't play at all in my opinion. My cousin is the only person I have ever seen get hurt by a wiffle ball, and that's just because he got his finger stuck in one of the holes.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Freeze-Tag-Red-Rover-Deemed-Dangerous-in-New-Summer-Camp-Regs-120195644.html

New hottest pepper

Watch out ghost chii, there's a new chili in town. It's been reported that there is a new world's hottest chili. It goes by the title Trinidad Scorpion Butch T, or just Butch T for short. It rates 1.46 million heat units in comparison to jalepenos 5000 heat units. The pepper is so powerful, handlers have to wear gloves when touching it. Making salsa involves full protective gear and masks.

Personally, I think this is RIDICULOUS! Who would ever want to even look at something this hot? All this would bring you is pain, intense, severe, flaming pain. It would hurt going in and hurt going out. You've got to be crazy to create it and even crazier to taste it.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20110412/od_yblog_upshot/new-chili-pepper-crowned-worlds-hottest

Alabama House passes anti immigration law

The Alabama house has passed an anti-immigrant law that will enable officials to check status of alleged immigrants. It will also allow potential employers to run a check on immigration status. Just as the bill in Arizona, this bill does not mean cops can pull you over because you look like an immigrant. Officials will only be able to check with good reason: ie the person is already detained for speeding, dui, disorderly conduct etc.

The bill has yet to pass in the Senate, but it was not even close in the house with a defeat of 73-28. Similar bills are passing across the country.
"We cannot allow Alabama to become a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants," Rep. Micky Hammon, a Republican who sponsored the bill, told the House.

I personally think the bill is a great idea. It's something to regulate. It does not enable officials to kick people out of the country and if they don't have good reason to check papers then they won't be checking papers. Jobs are at a low right now and opportunities to free up jobs should not be taken lightly. If these people want to become citizens the right way, that's one thing, but they don't. They are living in this country, receiving free health care, and taking jobs hard working Americans could have.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/alabama-lawmakers-approve-immigration-crackdown-20110405-184724-782.html

AT&T to buy T-Mobile

AT&T, the technology mogul has announced that they will be buying T-Mobile. The deal would top out at $39 million but wouldn't take affect until a year from now.

This would mean that T-Mobile would have a much wider selection of phones, contract plans, and service. However, T-Mobile users will no longer get unlimited data packages, one of the big draws for T-Mobile.

While the deal would mean more service for users that are grandfathered in, it would most likely mean higher prices for everyone. As Cingular has already been bought out, there are fewer and fewer cell phone options. This means not only will AT&T charge more for their services, Verizon and Sprint will also have to charge more in order to compete. I personally am against the idea. AT&T is turning into a Monopoly and soon its only going to be AT&T and Verizon. If this happens, cell phone bills will be through the roof.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/What-ATTTMobile-deal-could-apf-678471533.html?x=0

Tough Mudder

Quake in Japan leads to mounting nuclear threats

As the quake and tsunami that rocked Japan finally start to peeter off, disaster is still on the horizon in the form of nuclear meltdowns. As the tsunami took out power and generators, the nuclear plants had no way of cooling down the reactors thus resulting in melt downs and explosions. The explosions have led to radioactive material being released into the air. Thankfully, a majority of the material was blown over the ocean, but much of it is still affecting Japan and authorities are urging citizens to stay indoors and have enacted a 30 mile no fly zone over the plants.

Many officials are comparing the melt downs to that of Chernobyl. However, I firmly disagree with this. While the events are unfortunate and the entirety of the events in Japan is tragic, the melt downs are no Chernobyl. The events that happened in Chernobyl nearly wiped out the entire surrounding area and caused birth defects and mutations to this day. While the events in Japan may lead to cancerous side effects, the buildings were properly built and containable. The areas that exploded were not the core power sources. The affected zone is within 30 miles. Chernobyl is still affecting the area. The melt downs in Japan are the least of their worries and more attention needs to be brought to the thousands still missing and the devastatingly low amounts of food and water.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/ts_nm/us_japan_quake

NPR fires Ron Schiller

NPR announced recently that Ronald Schiller has been fired from the radio giant. The decision came after Schiller made a comment that NPR would be better without federal funding. NPR released a statement saying

The comments contained in the video released today are contrary to everything we stand for, and we completely disavow the views expressed. NPR is fair and open minded about the people we cover. Our reporting reflects those values every single day – in the civility of our programming, the range of opinions we reflect and the diversity of stories we tell.

I personally think the decision to fire Schiller over his opinion is completely ridiculous and goes against everything the 1st amendment and NPR stands for. Schiller in no way made negative comments or actions against the station, he simply stated his own opinion. Actions like this make me think that not only does NPR go against what they believe in, but that they don't deserve the funding.

Governement shutdown looms over Washington

As the US budget continues to fall into dissaray, that threat of a governement shut down has been brought up in order to cut funding. The move would comnpletely shut down what governement considers unnecessary positions for a period of time. It would save millions of dollars by not having to pay for salaries. This would include house represenatives, agents of governemntal groups like EPA and the IRS. The positions that are considered "nonessential" would be the ones to be shut down.
While republicans are for the shut down, democrats are radically against it. They are so against it that they have been forced into an "emergency short term" fund cut. The bill that was passed will cut nearly $4 billion dollars in government spending but it is only temporary, and only postpones the threat of a government shut down.
Personally I think that if temporarily shutting down some positions would save the country potentially millions of dollars then it needs to be done! There is no need for represenatives to be getting paid so much. Not only that, but the move would ensure a decrease is laws and regulations passed.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_congress_spending

Florence Animal Shelter

Auburn poisoning affects fans everywhere

The news lately has been flooded with news of the poisoning of Auburn's historic Toomer's Corner. The trees located there are over 100 years old and the site of infamous student celebrations. The poisoning was so severe that the trees are likely to die, and the complete surrounding area is contaminated.

Now I am not an Auburn fan. My fiancee is an Alabama fan and so that's where my allegiances tend to lie. Perosnally, I don't even really like football. However, this heinous action absolutely disgusts me. First of all, it gives not just Alabama fans but all fans a bad name. Namely because the accused was not even a student. He was just a stupid, irresponsible fan, and it's fans like these that give all fans a bad name. These idiots have no direct link to the school yet vandalize opposing schools all in the name of pride. This is not pride! One man does not speak for all. The fans at Alabama should not be penalized for this man, and no retaliation should come to the school or students. The true fans, the ones that attend the school and support friendly competition DO NOT condone these actions.

Secondly, this action is not just vandfalizing the school, it's vandalizing the people whose hearts and souls are in that school. Those trees are a symbol of pride and history. If someone were to harm my lions or damage the historic fountain at UNA, I would be heartbroken. These things represent my pride in my school and the time I have spent at UNA.

The man that commited this crime deserves to truly pay for it. He has damaged not only the school, but the name of competition as a whole. Rivalries should be friendly and about the game. It's about bragging rights and talent, not petty crimes. Alabama is not responsible for his crimes just as Jesus is not responsible for the idiot Baptists that sully the funerals of our soldiers. One man's actions do not reflect a whole.

http://photos.al.com/birmingham-news/2011/02/toomers_corner_poisoned_oak_tr_28.html

US Debt to surpass economy

The US debt which is a topic of heated debate no matter who you talk to, is about to reach and surpass the total economy of the United States. That means if the US makes 10 trillion dollars, it owes 11 trillion.

Debt is higher now then EVER. President Obama who promised spending cuts and more jobs and a boosted economy has just announces that the debt for next near will be the BIGGEST JUMP IN US HISTORY! His proposed figure??? 2 TRILLION DOLLARS!! Which would bring the US debt to almost 16 trillion, which has never been this high and has not come even close to that since WWII, even when Carter was in office. That's saying something since this was a man that pushed taxes to almost 60%

If you ask me, Obama is doing a pretty sorry job in "stabilizing" the economy. If you ask me, he's destroying the economy and refuses to see that the more spending he allows, the more this country takes a big ol' swirl in the crapper. This 2 years can not go by fast enough.

Read more here http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/feb/14/debt-now-equals-total-us-economy/

Slate Podcast

I recently listened to the Slate podcast "Reality is Statham" in which they discussed a number of things including the new Jason Statham movie The Mechanic. The main speaker of the podcast gushed, if gushed is enough, over Jason Statham. How he's the best action hero ever etc, etc. I'm sorry, but what has Statham been in that actually made anyone's radar??? Certainly not Crank, not really The Mechanic, and for sure not The Expendables. And if the last did make anyone's radars it wasn't for him. Sorry, Lady, The Mechanic won't be making my list anytime soon.

Next they talked about Tho Onion News Network from IFC. Tehy claim it is "everything you need to know in America" and they claim their host Brooke has more stalkers than anyone anywhere. However, the host is a character not a real person. All the news is satirical bits that do have elements of news in them. I'm sorry, but can you say Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart? You're act has been done already.

Lastly they talked about how video games are pretty much taking over the world, which is a fair claim. They go on to say that video games better us. Video games apparently are portable devices of happiness. However, as one of the cohosts accurtley pointed out, you feel good when you're playing it and you're happy when you win but then you stop and realize you've just wasted four hours playing some stupid game. Jane Mcgonogal the person behind the study goes on to say that this is true of people who only play for short amounts of time, but I have never ever met a person who got on a video game and only played for five minutes. There's a reason that video games are so addicting.

This podcast was a wild waste of time.
Waste your time here http://www.slate.com/id/2282599/

Technology Takes Over, So Do Headaches

In this day and age, being tech savvy is a must. Employers look for it, friends expect it, and nowadays most relationships are built around it. But with all the new technology out today, it seems like the hi-tech world is trying to overload us.

Twitter, Facebook, Skype, and Google are just a few of the many online sources that people use on a daily basis. Most people, though aren’t just using one, they’re using all of them and often at the same time. With so many of them linked for easy access, it makes your head spin. Yu find something on Google, you post it on Facebook, you like it to Twitter, a follower quotes it back to Facebook. It’s an endless cycle of technological pain. On top of those social elements are the business musts: email, phone calls, and text messaging.

USA Today posted on their online site “People are drowning in a deluge of data. Corporate users received about 110 messages a day in 2010, says market researcher Radicati Group. There are 110 million tweets a day, Twitter says. Researcher Basex has pegged business productivity losses due to the "cost of unnecessary interruptions" at $650 billion in 2007.”

So is it really all it’s cracked up to be? Do people need eighteen different mobile accounts in order to stay in the loop? Probably not. Most of them are linked to each other anyway so even if you don’t have Twitter, you can read someone’s Tweets on their blog or personal site. If someone doesn’t have Facebook or instant messaging, chances are they have text messaging.

This overload of technology is so unnecessary when most are just replicas of sources that have been around for years. Google, Yahoo, Bing, Dogpile: they’re all the same!

While many sites are trying to simplify, they’re failing to acknowledge the bigger picture: there are just too many, and they don’t seem to be going away any time soon.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2011-02-01-tech-overload_N.htm

Is Egypt our future?

As chaos in Egypt ensues, the US readies an internet "kill switch" of its own
The US Senate is in the works of reintroducing a bill that would allow the president to control and shut down the internet as he so saw fit. It was originally introduced last year but expired in Congress.
Supporters of the bill claim it is nothing like the stiff regulation of Egypt.
“My legislation would provide a mechanism for the government to work with the private sector in the event of a true cyber emergency,” Sen. Susan Collins said in an emailed statement to Wired. “It would give our nation the best tools available to swiftly respond to a significant threat.”
I'm sure that's how it started in Egypt to. It wasn't a means to control them, it was a means to help them, to legislate them If you can't hear it, my voice is dripping with sarcasm.
This bill is complete bull crap. I'm sorry, but the second the government tries to shut down the internet is the second this country will become Egypt. We are guaranteed a freedom of speech by the first amendment and that includes the internet.  We also have a freedom to petition the government over grievances and if this bill passes, we'll need to. If we don't, I guarantee there will be rioting in the streets.
http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/as-egypt-goes-offline-us-gets-internet-kill-switch-bill-ready-20110131-1aah3.html

Unrest in Egypt

What does that mean for us?
The majority of Americans don't think twice about what a tweet or a facebook status could mean. Telling what you had for breakfast or the latests movie you saw. But for protesters in Egypt and Tunisia, a tweet could mean life or death, freedom or opression. 

Protestors in these countries are utilizing these resources in order to revolt against their wildly controlling governments. Their leaders are trying and failing desperately to shut down these sources of unrest but the more they aim to stem it, the more powerful it becomes. People are taking to the streets in droves in order to vent their frustration with their government. And the more they revolt, the more the question begs, what does that mean for the US? Will we step in? Won't we? What does that mean for our nation which is more and more becoming fed up with its own government?

NYC ban on talking and walking proposed

In this day and age, multi tasking is a way of life. If you can't, you fail. Period. Like this woman

But one man not only despises the thought of it, but actually seeks to ban the combination of walking and using some form of movile device, be it mp3 players or cell phones while crossing the street. The ban comes from the death of 21 year old Jason King, The man was listening to his music player while crossing the street and was hit by a truck.
Sen. Kruger, the man behind the ban, claims it comes on the heels of a number of vehicle/pedestrian accidents.
If you ask me, the ban needs to be focused more on the drivers and less on the pedestrians. Just because he was listening to his music player doesn't mean his vision was impared. And as pedestrians go, they have the right of way.
Kruger claims “When people are doing things that are detrimental to their own well being, then government should step in."
Personally, I don't think it's Kruger's business whether we do something detrimental to our health or not. This a free country and the minute the government steps in to start banning things, this country will turn into countries like China and Russia.
We are a society raised on technology nad there is no way you are going to prevent people from walking and listening to music or walking and talking. You want to ban that, ban walking and chewing gum or just being an idiot in general.

Netflix to do away with DVDs

Clearly, Netflix you forgot what you were created for
So I read in a recent article that Netflix, the popular movie by mail rental company is going to do away with DVDs. Say what?? Now when I first read this I thought what I am sure all of you are thinking, I wont be able to get DVDs anymore from Netflix which completely defeats the point.
Upon further investigation, I learned that they are simply removing the option of adding DVDs to your queue from portable devices: ie phones, wii, etc. This seems so pointless to me. What does this possible acheive? Nothing. However, Netflix believes that by removing this option, it will encourage users to streem movies on their portable devices. They even stated on their blog
"We’re doing this so we can concentrate on offering you the titles that are available to watch instantly. Further, providing the option to add a DVD to your Queue from a streaming device complicates the instant watching experience and ties up resources that are better used to improve the overall streaming functionality"
Don't count on it considering the extreme restrictions internet companies are putting on streaming and bandwidth. I don't want to take away my much coveted surfing and viewing abilities simply because Netflix is feeling greedy with the options.
I pay you, Netflix, don't make me regret it.