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27 Dec 2011 21:23

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U.S.: Deadly helicopter crash kills surgeon, others picking up heart transplant

  • heroics On Monday morning, a Mayo Clinic surgeon and two others traveled by helicopter from Jacksonville to Gainesville, Fla. to pick up a heart transplant needed for surgery.
  • tragedy The helicopter crashed before reaching its destination; the aircraft’s three passengers — a surgeon, a procurement technician, and the pilot — all died. source
  • » View this as a call to action. No one is entirely sure why the helicopter went down, though it was overcast as the helicopter left Jacksonville. The crash itself is still being investigated for any outlying conditions, but the engine of the helicopter might have been the cause. “We’ve seen a number of instances where that engine simply failed,” said Kansas City aviation attorney Gary Robb. The heart readied for transplant is now no longer viable. In a country where 100,000 people are on transplant lists and only 35% of the population counts themselves as potential donors, one has to wonder if more potential donors could prevent traveling such long distances in the future.
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Dec 2011 20:35

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Tech: Would Obama veto SOPA? An online debate builds among techies

  • claim AllThingsD’s Arik Hesseldahl claimed in an article Monday that Obama would be likely to veto the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act because the president “likes the internet” and that a decision in favor of SOPA would strongly go against the president’s longstanding net neutrality policy.
  • rebuttal However, TechDirt blogger Mike Masnick, who knows a thing or two about online copyright issues, says that Obama would likely sign it due to his need for election-year money from Hollywood — unless the bill becomes toxic to the touch, which Masnick says hasn’t happened yet. So, who’s right?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Dec 2011 15:53

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U.S.: Zohydro, a super-powered (and addictive) painkiller?

  • High-strength painkiller sparks addiction concerns: A new prescription painkiller currently in development has stoked fears among addiction experts, due to its high concentration of a substance already known to be hyper-addictive. Zohydro, a new medication for which pharmaceutical company Zogenix plans to apply for FDA approval to sell sometime early next year, contains ten times the amount of hydrocodone as Vicodin does — one of the most abused drugs in the United States. Said April Rovero, of the National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse: “I have a big concern that this could be the next OxyContin. We just don’t need this on the market.” (photo by The Javorac on Flickr) source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Dec 2011 15:30

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U.S.: This year, Santa taught one Arizona family to never give up hope.

  • an honest-to-goodness christmas miracle. Nobody thought Sam Schmid, a business major at Arizona State University, was going to recover from a traumatic car crash in October; his family was ready to take him off life support. His doctor ran just one more brain scan and advised them to wait a week before making any decisions. That same day, Schmid became responsive and even opened his eyes. He was allowed one day to be at home with his family for Christmas. With intense therapy, he hopes to be back at school next year. “There is no better gift,” his mother said. source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Dec 2011 15:06

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Politics: Democratic Senator Ben Nelson to retire in 2012

  • NO Senator Ben Nelson won’t seek re-election in 2012 source
  • » Bye bye, Ben: Bowing out from what was expected to be a heavily-contested race in Nebraska, Democrat Ben Nelson has decided to retire from his seat in 2012, a move likely to disappoint those concerned with the Democratic Party’s ability to maintain control of the Senate. Nelson was one of the most rightward leaning members of the Democratic Senate (perhaps less so than Joe Manchin), having supported the Bush tax cuts and railing against the health care reform law as a “government takeover” before ultimately supporting it, with some big conditions: recall that infamous “cornhusker kickback?” Yeah, that was him.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Dec 2011 14:45

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World: Muqtada al-Sadr calls for dissolution of Iraqi parliament

  • From violence to political turmoil? Such seems the case in Iraq, just weeks after the official end of U.S. military involvement there. That some violence and upheaval would occur upon U.S. withdrawal was perhaps inevitable; there are many forces within Iraq that are aligned against a unity government, the al-Qaeda front “Islamic State of Iraq” chiefly among them (they claimed responsibility for attacks that killed 70 on Thursday). Now comes word that Muqtada al-Sadr, leader of the Shi’ite political bloc known as the Sadrists (as well as a staunch anti-American cleric) has called for the dissolution of the Iraqi parliament, and for early elections, threatening to deepen the country’s increasing Islamic sectarian crisis. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Dec 2011 11:16

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Politics: Flashback: Newt Gingrich supported Mitt Romney’s health care plan in 2006

  • We agree entirely with Governor Romney and Massachusetts legislators that our goal should be 100 percent insurance coverage for all Americans.
  • Newt Gingrich • Speaking in support of then Gov. Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts health insurance plan back in 2006, on a site long hidden in the annals of the Internet — well, until now. Archive.org is your friend, guys. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

27 Dec 2011 10:42

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Biz: Blue light not-so-special: Sears, K-Mart locations closing due to falling sales

  • 120 locations will close amid a longstanding decline source
  • » Sales down across the board: Since K-Mart and Sears merged into one company back in 2005, sales have declined yearly, a trend that continued during this year’s all-important holiday season. (A holiday season, mind you, where things were actually looking positive for most retail chains.) At Sears, sales fell by 6 percent. At K-Mart, they fell by 4.4 percent. Together, that’s a 5 percent decline. The company has long kept underperforming stores open despite declining sales, but they’ve chosen to cut off dead weight this time, which has the potential of buoying the performance of the 2,000-plus U.S. stores and 500 Canadian stores between the two chains.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Dec 2011 10:15

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World: Russia: After protests, Putin suggests opposition opponents disorganized

  • The problem is they lack a consolidated program, as well as clear and comprensible ways of achieving their goals, which aren’t clear either. They also lack people who are capable of doing something concrete.
  • Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin • Dismissing his opponents as disorganized and leaderless in comments made days after large-scale Christmas weekend protests in Moscow. Putin, who is running for president in March (after skipping a term due to term limits), says those elections should be transparent and fair, but outright dismissed protester desires for a recount in the Russian parliamentary elections earlier this month. “As a candidate, I don’t need any vote-rigging,” he said. “I want the election to be maximally transparent. I want to rely on people’s will, on people’s trust, and it makes no sense to work if it’s missing.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Dec 2011 20:49

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World: Japan having a “mancession”: Women bringing home the bacon

  • 5.4% the percentage of men that were unemployed in Japan as of 2010
  • 4.6% the percentage of unemployed women; that’s a role-reversal source
  • » Tough cultural conditions to blame: With a high pay gap between female and male workers (females make less), a switch from traditional manufacturing to service industries, an aging population, a slowing birth rate, and a move among Japanese couples to marry later, Japan is quickly facing a bit of a cultural shift in terms of who has a job and who doesn’t. By 2020, estimates say, the number of unemployed men vs. unemployed women could become even more pronounced.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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