XIAM007

Making Unique Observations in a Very Cluttered World

Wednesday, 12 October 2011

You Know That Your City Has Become A Hellhole When…. -

You Know That Your City Has Become A Hellhole When…. - 


All across America there are cities and towns that were once prosperous and beautiful that are being transformed into absolute hellholes.  The scars left by the long-term economic decline of the United States are getting deeper and more gruesome.  The tax base in many areas of the nation has been absolutely devastated as millions of jobs have left this country.  Hundreds of cities are drowning in debt and are desperately trying to survive.  Last year, city government revenues in the United States fell by another 2.3 percent.  That was the fifth year in a row that we have seen a decline.  Meanwhile, costs associated with health care, pensions and virtually everything else continue to explode.  So what are cities doing to make ends meet?  Well, one big trend that we are now witnessing is that many U.S. cities have been getting rid of huge numbers of employees.  If you can believe it, 72 percent of all U.S. cities are laying workers off this year.  Social services and essential infrastructure programs are also being savagely cut back in many areas of the country.  The cold, hard truth is that most of our cities are flat broke and things are going to get even worse in the years ahead.
So how do you know if your own city has become a hellhole?
Well, a few potential "red flags" are posted below....
You know that your city has become a hellhole when most of the street lightsget repossessed because of unpaid electric bills.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when it announces that it will no longer prosecute domestic violence cases in order to save money.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when it simply stops sending out pension checks to retired workers.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when it rips up asphalt roads and replaces them with gravel because gravel is cheaper to maintain.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when it eliminates the entire public bus system.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when nearly half of all the people living there can't read.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when one out of every ten homes sells for under $10,000.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when you can literally buy a house for one dollar.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when you have hundreds of people living in the tunnels underneath your streets.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when three of your past five mayors have been sent to prison for corruption.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when nearly half of the public schools in the city get shut down because of a lack of money.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when you have dozens of young people rampaging in the streets that are thirsty for revenge and that are armed with bats, pipes and guns.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when it is considered to be one of the 10 most dangerous cities in the world.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when thieves defecate in the back seat after they have broken into your car and taken your things.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when prostitution and drug dealing are two of the only viable businesses that remain in the city.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when the police chief announces that the police department will no longer respond to calls about burglary and identity theft due to very deep budget cuts.
Many of the examples above may seem humorous at first glance, but the truth is that they reveal just how deeply tragic our economic decline really is.
This is one of the reasons why I write about our trade deficit over and over and over.  Every single month, tens of billions of dollars more wealth goes out of the United States than enters it.  Every single month, we are getting poorer as a nation.  Every single month, we lose more jobs and businesses.
Any politician that tells you that he or she can solve our economic problems without fundamentally addressing our horrific trade imbalance is lying to you.  That means that there are a whole lot of liars in both political parties.
If the number of good jobs continues to decline, the plight of the average American family is going to continue to get worse.  Home sales will continue to hover around record lows.  The American people will continue to become increasingly frustrated with the economy.
The signs of decline are all around us.
Quit listening to the politicians and just open up your eyes and look.
Read more - 

Vancouver restaurant bans Men from Peeing standing up -

Vancouver restaurant bans Men from Peeing standing up - 
Photo by Chad Skelton

A Vancouver restaurant has come up with an interesting solution to the men-can’t-aim problem: Ban men from peeing standing up.


Recently, my wife and I had brunch at the Edible Canada bistro on Granville Island. When I went to use the facilities, I was surprised to see just one unisex bathroom with about six private stalls and a communal sink area.


Even more surprising, though, was the sign above the toilet, showing a stick man tinkling into a toilet with a line through it. Yes, Edible Canada has banned men from peeing standing up.


Back in my high-school days, I had a job at a fast-food restaurant, where one of my duties was cleaning the washrooms. I was often shocked at how much dirtier the men’s washrooms were than the women’s. And as a frequent user of men’s washrooms, I can attest that men are absolutely disgusting. Not only can’t some men aim, some don’t seem to bother to raise the seat before they go.


In Edible Canada’s case, where men and women have to share toilets, I can see why they’d be interested in reducing behaviours that might make things messy.


But, still, isn’t banning stand-up peeing a little extreme? Not to mention, as far as I can tell, completely unenforceable?


Being able to pee standing up is one of the perks of being a guy, perhaps even a rite of passage.


It wasn’t long after the Older Boy learned how to sit on the potty that he wanted to “pee standing up, like Daddy”.


Read more - 
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2011/10/12/vancouver-restaurant-bans-men-from-peeing-standing-up/

Detroit Police Impound Suspected Mobile Strip Club - the "Booty Lounge" bus -

Detroit Police Impound Suspected Mobile Strip Club - the "Booty Lounge" bus - 


Detroit police have impounded a party bus they say operated illegally as a strip club for reveling football fans at a popular tailgating spot.
The Detroit News and WDIV-TV report that the "Booty Lounge" bus was parked Monday near Ford Field, where the Lions played the Chicago Bears. Police say it was cited for not having a state safety inspection and because the driver didn't have a commercial license.
The bus was parked earlier Monday outside a bar in the Eastern Market area. Bus operator Joe Parsons agreed to move it at the request of police and said he planned to park out of town.
Parsons has said Detroit has no ordinance against "mobile entertainment clubs."




Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/10/12/detroit-police-impound-suspected-mobile-strip-club/?test=latestnews

Study Finds Vitamin E May Increase Risk of Prostate Cancer -

Study Finds Vitamin E May Increase Risk of Prostate Cancer - 


Vitamin E may have cardiovascular and brain-boosting benefits, but a new study found that men who took 400 international units of the supplement every day have an increased risk of developing prostate cancer.
“The results show that men who took vitamin E alone are actually at a higher risk of developing prostate cancer by about 17 percent, compared with a placebo,” said Dr. Eric Klein, who treats prostate patients at the Cleveland Clinic and co-chaired the study.
Researchers studied the effects of vitamin E on more than 35,000 men over the course of seven years because they originally thought vitamin E – and selenium – would decrease the risk of developing prostate cancer.
The study’s results were not what the researchers expected.
Researchers said they need to determine exactly why vitamin E can increase the chances of developing prostate cancer.




Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/10/11/study-finds-vitamin-e-may-increase-risk-prostate-cancer/?test=latestnews

VeriSign Demands Website Takedown Powers, No Court Order Necessary -

VeriSign Demands Website Takedown Powers, No Court Order Necessary - 


VeriSign, which manages the database of all .com internet addresses, wants powers to shut down "non-legitimate" domain names when asked to by law enforcement.
The company said today it wants to be able to enforce the "denial, cancellation or transfer of any registration" in any of a laundry list of scenarios where a domain is deemed to be "abusive".
VeriSign should be able to shut down a .com or .net domain, and therefore its associated website and email, "to comply with any applicable court orders, laws, government rules or requirements, requests of law enforcement or other governmental or quasi-governmental agency, or any dispute resolution process", according to a document it filed today with domain name industry overseer ICANN.
The company has already helped law enforcement agencies in the US, such as the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, seize domains that were allegedly being used to sell counterfeit goods or facilitate online piracy, when the agency first obtained a court order.
That seizure process has come under fire because, in at least one fringe case, a seized .com domain's website had already been ruled legal by a court in its native Spain.
Senior ICE agents are on record saying that they believe all .com addresses fall under US jurisdiction.
But the new powers would be international and, according to VeriSign's filing, could enable it to shut down a domain also when it receives "requests from law enforcement", without a court order.


Read more - 
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/10/11/verisign_asks_for_web_takedown_powers/

U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy planning to make it a Federal Crime to mislabel products as containing Maple Syrup -

U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy planning to make it a Federal Crime to mislabel products as containing Maple Syrup - 


 U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy says he's planning to introduce legislation to make it a federal crime for people to mislabel products as containing maple syrup.
Leahy said Tuesday the legislation is needed to protect Vermont's maple crop from fraud.
The move came in the aftermath of a recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigation that found a man who had been selling fake Vermont "maple" syrup, when the product contained no syrup.
Leahy's proposal would create a new federal felony offense and increase the sentences that prosecutors can seek for people who defraud consumers and farmers by intentionally mislabeling maple products.


Read more - 
http://news.yahoo.com/vt-sen-leahy-seek-maple-protection-law-181422461.html

Monday, 10 October 2011

Children to be banned from blowing up balloons and blowing on party whistles, under EU safety rules -

Children to be banned from blowing up balloons and blowing on party whistles, under EU safety rules - 




The EU toy safety directive, agreed and implemented by Government, states that balloons must not be blown up by unsupervised children under the age of eight, in case they accidentally swallow them and choke.
Despite having been popular favourites for generations of children, party games including whistles and magnetic fishing games are to be banned because their small parts or chemicals used in making them are decreed to be too risky.
Apparently harmless toys that children have enjoyed for decades are now regarded by EU regulators as posing an unacceptable safety risk.
Whistle blowers, that scroll out into a a long coloured paper tongue when sounded – a party favourite at family Christmas meals – are now classed as unsafe for all children under 14.
The new rules are designed to protect children from the chance that a piece of the whistle could be swallowed and cause choking.

Read more -

Sunday, 9 October 2011

Parent of a child with ADHD? Have a free car under £1.5bn taxpayer-funded scheme for the disabled in the UK’s -

Parent of a child with ADHD? Have a free car under £1.5bn taxpayer-funded scheme for the disabled in the UK’s - 




Iain Duncan Smith has ordered a crackdown on thousands of families with youngsters diagnosed with ‘naughty child syndrome’ who get new cars paid for by the state.
The Work and Pensions Secretary has been shocked to learn that the families of more than 3,000 people suffering Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are believed to have been given vehicles under the £1.5 billion-a-year Motability scheme.
Mr Duncan Smith is determined to stop what he regards as abuse of free cars for the disabled as part of his campaign to curb the UK’s annual £192billion benefits bill.


The number of people with cars paid for by the Government-funded Motability scheme has soared to 575,000 – up by 200,000 in just over ten years.
The number of claimants receiving disability benefit for ADHD – or hyperkinetic disorder, as it is categorised by welfare officials – has rocketed from 800 a decade ago to 43,100 last year.

An additional 55,900 claimants are given handouts for ‘behavioural disorders’, taking the total for ADHD-related conditions to 99,000. It has led to claims that a lack of proper checks has led to widespread abuse.
Mr Duncan Smith was enraged to be told initially by his department that there were no precise numbers on how many people with the condition received free cars.

However, after persistent enquiries by The Mail on Sunday, officials finally revealed that 3,200 such claimants qualified.
Motability was launched in 1978 with a handful of specially modified cars, such as motorised blue three-wheel trikes and Mini Clubman Estates with a ramp at the back for a wheelchair.
But now it is the biggest fleet-
management outfit in the UK. Mike Betts, its chief executive, earns £1.17 million a year.
Its website openly advises claimants how to use the benefit to get luxury cars such as a £30,000 Audi A6, a £35,000 BMW X3 or a £37,000 Toyota Land Cruiser.
Some doctors believe the big rise in the number of children said to have ADHD is a direct result of their parents’ right to claim disability benefit of up to £10,000 a year.
While critics believe ADHD is just a label to describe restless or naughty children, psychologists insist it is a real condition which applies when a child is persistently restless, to the point where it has a detrimental effect on their development. Some adults are also affected.
The Government says that about a third of a million children aged between six and 16 suffer with the disorder.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2046924/Parent-child-ADHD-Have-free-car-1-5bn-taxpayer-funded-scheme.html#ixzz1aK5Tt6aT

Oral Sex May Cause More Throat Cancer Than Smoking in Men, Researchers Say -

Oral Sex May Cause More Throat Cancer Than Smoking in Men, Researchers Say - 




A virus spread by oral sex may cause more cases of throat cancer in men than smoking, a finding that spurred calls for a new large-scale test of a drug used against the infection.
Researchers examined 271 throat-tumor samples collected over 20 years ending in 2004 and found that the percentage of oral cancer linked to the human papillomavirus, or HPV, surged to 72 percent from about 16 percent, according to a report released yesterday in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. By 2020, the virus-linked throat tumors -- which mostly affected men -- will become more common than HPV-caused cervical cancer, the report found.
HPV is known for infecting genitals. The finding that it can spread to the throat and cause cancer may increase pressure on Merck & Co., the second-largest U.S. drugmaker, to conduct large-scale trials to see if its vaccine Gardasil, which wards off cervical cancer in women, also prevents HPV throat infections.
“The burden of cancer caused by HPV is going to shift from women to men in this decade,” Maura Gillison, an oncologist at Ohio State University and study senior author, said in a telephone interview. “What we believe is happening is that the number of sexual partners and exposure to HPV has risen over that same time period.”
Gillison said she worked with researchers at Whitehouse Station, New Jersey-based Merck several years ago to design a study in men. After Merck acquired Schering-Plough Corp. in 2009, though, the trial “was canceled,” she said.
Read more -

Time Capsule With Over 100-Year-Old Germs Found At Former Bellevue Hospital Medical College -

Time Capsule With Over 100-Year-Old Germs Found At Former Bellevue Hospital Medical College - 

In 1897, a time capsule was sealed up and hidden away in the cornerstone of what was Bellevue Hospital Medical College in Manhattan. Now, it has been found.



A few weeks ago, that building at East 26th Street and 1st Avenue was demolished.


The contents of the time capsule were recovered and they’re now in the hands of New York University bacteriologist Dr. Martin Blaser, who says it was no ordinary time capsule.




“In addition to papers from that time and materials from students from the Bellevue Medical College and the newspaper the New York Sun from 1897, it also had a test tube that had some bacterial spores in it that were gotten and cultured from a patient in 1896,” Blaser told WCBS 880′s Alex Silverman.


Blaser says his team is trying to wake up those spores and grow them so they can study the organisms.


“We are interested in the question of whether seventy years of antibiotics is changing the organisms that live in the body. The organism that was put in the time capsule was a normal organism that lives in the human body. By having this organism and comparing it to present day organisms, we may have a chance to answer the question of whether our own organisms are changing or not,” said Blaser.


Blaser says the specimen was put there by a bacteriologist named Edward Dunham. He says Dunham was one of the city’s early bacteriologists and that it was he who first described that these bacteria actually form spores.


Read more -
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/10/07/time-capsule-found-at-former-bellevue-hospital-medical-college/