Clipmarks | chestnut501's clips

Right-Wingers in Congress Love Their Own Govt.-Run Health Care

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:28:20 GMT

clipped by: chestnut501
clipper's remarks: But They Hate Sharing It

Members of Congress and their families are blessed with their very own gold-plated, taxpayer-financed, Washington-run health care system.

Right under the Capitol dome, conveniently situated between the Senate and House chamber, is the Office of the Attending Physician. Inside are more than a dozen navy doctors, nurses, medical technicians, pharmacists and other health professionals, all employed by the government solely to attend to a select clientele: the 535 members of Congress.

No appointment needed, no pesky insurance forms to fill out, no co-pay -- just care.

For this, members pay a flat fee of $503 a year. A year! You and I are taxed to cover the real costs of this elite service. And that's not the end of public health benefits for lawmakers -- if they need a specialist, an operation, therapy, rehab or other pricey procedure, it's all free at the government's Walter Reed and Bethesda Naval hospitals.

If it's good enough for them, why not us?

Tags: health, politics, health-care, government, congress, taxpayers

Goldman Sachs Get Priority Access to H1N1 Vaccine

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:30:29 GMT

clipped by: chestnut501
clipper's remarks: Why?

Clip Source: act.credoaction.com

This is beyond outrageous. Pregnant women and children with respiratory problems struggle to get access to scarce doses of the H1N1 vaccine. But according to NBC News, bankers at Goldman Sachs enjoy a stockpile of 200 doses of the vaccine -- the same as allotted to Lenox Hill Hospital in New York

With hospitals, schools and community health clinics in desperate need of the H1N1 vaccine, it's unconscionable that Wall Street can just cut in line and secure scarce doses for bankers.

Goldman Sachs received over $1 billion in taxpayer bailouts during the financial meltdown. But that's not all. It was the single-largest recipient of taxpayer money in the AIG bailout, receiving almost $13 billion once AIG's positions were unwound.

And now, analysts predict Goldman Sachs could give its bankers as much as $23 billion in bonuses, while the rest of country struggles through the jobless "recovery."

Tags: politics, health, u.s., bailout, vaccine, swine-flu, banks, bonuses

CCTV Surveillance Cameras Don't Reassure, They Frighten

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:14:30 GMT

clipped by: chestnut501
clipper's remarks: Britain's network of 4.2 million surveillance cameras cause more fear

Clip Source: bps-research-digest.blogspot.com

People are no more fearful of crossing a street with a young male skinhead in it than they are a street with a smartly dressed woman present, unless, that is, a CCTV camera is overhead.

The new finding appears to undermine one of the key justifications for Britain's network of 4.2 million surveillance cameras: that they provide reassurance to the public. It seems that the sight of a CCTV camera can have the opposite effect, cueing the perception of a threat.

CCTV cameras may not be the only form of crime-fighting paraphernalia that can backfire by cueing a sense of threat. In a North American study conducted in the late 90's John Schweitzer and colleagues found that a plethora of "Neighbourhood Watch" signs increased people's fear of crime.

Tags: news, sociology, britain, security, cameras

A Diverse Collection of Emotions & Expressions

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:50:38 GMT

clipped by: artdawgs

Clip Source: www.bitrebels.com

Human nature is a diverse collection of emotions and expressions of them. I’ve uncovered a plethora of lovely textualisms that cover the gamut of human emotion. Some may even have you covering your ears and opening your eyes!

Altruism Comes Easy for Toddlers

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:50:33 GMT

clipped by: chestnut501
clipper's remarks: Psychologists think such ingrained altruism has evolved as a consequence of our species' dependence on group living for survival.

Clip Source: bps-research-digest.blogspot.com

Surely one of the most charming sights is of an adult struggling to reach an object, only for a toddler to pick up that object and hand it to the adult, as research has shown they so often will.

Psychologists think such ingrained altruism has evolved as a consequence of our species' dependence on group living for survival.

Sixty 18-month-old infants were shown eight photos of

two dolls standing together side by side

another version featured

two dolls facing away from each other

After they'd been shown these photos, another experimenter walked over to the infants and dropped a bunch of pens

Amazingly, the infants who'd seen the photos with the companionable dolls in the background were three times as likely as the other infants to help the experimenter by spontaneously picking up one or more sticks and handing it to the experimenter.

even in infancy, a mere hint of affiliation is sufficient to increase helping."

Tags: science, sociology, altruism, helping, interdependence

Cute Animals Overload

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:00:54 GMT

clipped by: chestnut501

Clip Source: cuteoverload.files.wordpress.com

Recent Midwest Quakes Called Aftershocks from 1800s

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:41:29 GMT

clipped by: chestnut501

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Rachael Rettner
Staff Writer
LiveScience.com rachael Rettner
staff Writer
livescience.com – Wed Nov 4, 1:17 pm ET

The small earthquakes that sporadically rattle the central United States may actually be aftershocks from a few extremely large quakes that occurred in the region almost 200 years ago, according to a new study

AFP/File – File picture of a seismograph.

The New Madrid Earthquakes, which struck between December 1811 and February 1812, are some of the strongest seismic events ever to occur in the contiguous United States

The largest quake is estimated to have been 8.0 in magnitude and was powerful enough to temporarily make the Mississippi River flow backwards.

The heart of the seismic activity was near the town of New Madrid, Missouri,

The town has shaken with numerous earthquakes since,

the present-day temblors are getting smaller with time, which is a characteristic of aftershocks,

Tags: science, geology, earthquakes, united-states, midwest, research

The Cutest Deadly Sin

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:55:06 GMT

clipped by: chestnut501

Clip Source: cuteoverload.com

Yep, that’s me—Sloth. The cutest of the Seven Deadly Sins.

Don’t believe me? Did you ever see an animal called a “Gluttony”? An “Envy”? (ooh, a little lower, thank you) A “Gives Away Movie Endings”? I rest my case.

Tags: animals, wild, pets, baby, babies, cute

Hearing Our Heartbeat

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:15:02 GMT

clipped by: chestnut501

Clip Source: www.scientificamerican.com

The other day my 3-year old God son and I were pillow fighting when he sat down, panting, and said with surprise, “I can feel my heart beating!”

Sometimes it takes little kids to remind us just how amazing our bodies are.

Scientists believe that an area of the brain, the interior and anterior cingulate cortex, is involved in what is known as interoceptive awareness—the awareness of our own physiological sensations, like a heart beating deep within your body.

But recent research from the University of Iowa has shown that we can also use another separate pathway when we consciously experience our internal physical states.

This second pathway, they believe, runs from the skin to the somatosensory cortex, which is the part of the brain that maps the external body.

This study suggests that both brain pathways are involved in interoceptive awareness, which can cover anything from a panic attack, to the sick-feeling of rejection, to a pounding heart from an afternoon pillow fight.

Tags: science, health, heart, sensory, neuroscience, brain

Nature's Best Landscape Photography

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:32:48 GMT

clipped by: chestnut501
clipper's remarks: These can also be used as desktop wallpapers

Clip Source: www.desktopwallpapers.ru

Tags: photography, nature, landscapes, seascapes, sunsets, pictures

The Cost of Health Care is the Real Disease

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:14:52 GMT

clipped by: chestnut501
clipper's remarks: Cure the disease and all the symptoms will disappear

Clip Source: mariopiperni.com

Here’s a part of health care reform we don’t hear enough of - the cost of care.

There is a simple explanation for why American health care costs so much more than health care in any other country: because we pay so much more for each unit of care. As Halvorson explained, and academics and consultancies have repeatedly confirmed, if you leave everything else the same — the volume of procedures, the days we spend in the hospital, the number of surgeries we need — but plug in the prices Canadians pay, our health-care spending falls by about 50 percent.

The following charts tell the story.

Tags: news, politics, health, health-care, costs

Preschoolers Challenge Stereotypical Gender Roles

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:18:16 GMT

clipped by: chestnut501
clipper's remarks: An interesting study that shows that gender roles are imposed upon children, and that young children, by their very nature, act outside of the restrictions that such roles place upon them.

Clip Source: www.ufn.gu.se

researchers

performed gender analysis of 114 video sequences of six preschool groups

The analysis shows that girls’ questions and comments are responded to

in a negative sense

that teachers tend to masculinise teaching tools and that masculinity is the norm in children’s play and art work

reinforced in the interaction between teachers and children since teachers often have stereotypical ideas of what boys and girls are interested in.

Yet, the analysis also identified that boys and girls very often share play and learning with each other

they show great concern for each other by being helpful and taking responsibility for others’ well-being regardless of gender.

children manage to achieve border crossing at preschool

border crossing is when a LEGO figure that has been gender-defined by a teacher is redefined by a child from ’man’ to ‘mum’.

children

reformulate and expand their possibilities

not a single example

where teachers consciously challenge children to engage in border crossing.’

Tags: sociology, gender, gender-roles, preschoolers, steriotyping, study, research, border-crossing

Do the Drug Companies Have any Moral Responsibilities?

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:17:06 GMT

clipped by: chestnut501
clipper's remarks: Millions die yearly because of high malaria drug prices, 90% of those are children.

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Nearly a million people die from malaria each year because they cannot afford the most effective treatment and instead often buy old drugs to which the malaria parasite has become resistant, researchers said on Monday.

Children play as a health worker fumigates a slum to prevent malaria in Mumbai

Artemisinin combination therapy, or ACT, drugs made by firms such as Novartis and Sanofi-Aventis can cost as much as 65 times the daily minimum wage in some African countries, according to a study of 6 high-risk nations by Populations Services International Malaria.

"With most people accessing anti-malarial medication through the private sector, price becomes a critically important barrier,"

"A full course of an adult treatment of ACT can be up to 65 times the minimum daily wage.

Children account for about 90 percent of the deaths in the sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia -- the worst affected areas.

Tags: health, drugs, poverty, big-pharma, pharmaceutical- industry, responsibility, accountability

Beginning of Time Discovered

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:59:30 GMT

clipped by: chestnut501
clipper's remarks: Zooming in on the Universe's First Starlight: "Everything Else Came After This"

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

Scientists have seen the first starlight ever recorded,

the first star to send light which reached Earth. This light is the earliest, the furthest away, the most red-shifted, and every other factor that could possibly say "Everything else ever came after this."

The bright light is also poignant as it results from a Gamma Ray Burst, GRB 090423, meaning that this first light comes from the death of a star imploding into a neutron star or even an early black hole. The light exhibited a record breaking redshift of 8.2

The event occurred when the universe was only half a billion years old and the light has literally spent all of time to get here.

The starburst was so early it was used to confirm that this kind of thing even happened back then. The signal outshone galaxies, and is now our earliest evidence of anything that happened back then.

Tags: astronomy, physics, time, space, big-bang-theory, first-light