A cemetary for anchors

A cemetery for anchors at Barril beach, Island of Tavira, Portugal

For centuries tuna fishing sustained this area of Portugal. The tuna were overfished. The tuna, tuna fishermen and the entire fishing industry are long gone with hotels and the tourist trade taking their place.

Google map coordinates: 37°05'12.17"N 7°39'41.26"W

9 Legal Drugs With Extremely Disturbing Side Effects

Have you ever paid attention to what is being said during those giddy happy viewing sequences promoting any of those drugs you are encouraged to "ask your physician if Xyz is right for you." Often the side effects listing is longer than the part that tells you what the drug is supposed to be for.

This comes from a post on the Consummerist web site - link to the article with numerous comments below the following:



A a smorgasbord of drugs with extremely disturbing side effects.


MIRAPEX - for "Restless Leg Syndrome"
"...hallucinations may occur..."
"...increased gambling, sexual, or other overpowering urges..."

ABILIFY - for bipolar disorder, schizophrenia
"coma or death...And trouble swallowing."

FLOMAX - decreases symptoms from having an enlarged prostate (mainly frequent urination)
* runny nose
* dizziness
* decrease in semen (most of the time decrease means no ejactuate at all - Admin.)

ALLI - weight loss aid
"These changes may include gas with oily discharge, an increased number of bowel movements, an urgent need to have them, and an inability to control them."

VERAMYSYT - "treats allergy symptoms with a gentle fine mist that is scent-free."
"nasal sores, glaucoma, cataracts and nasal fungal infection"
More disturbingly, ads for Veramyst used to say, "The way VERAMYST works is not entirely understood."

ORTHO-NOVUM - birth control pill
"...benign but dangerous liver tumors. These benign liver tumors can rupture and cause fatal internal bleeding. In addition, some studies report an increased risk of developing liver cancer."

ADVAIR - asthma treatment
"asthma related death"

CHANTIX - anti-smoking aid
"Nausea, sleep disturbance, constipation, flatulence, and vomiting."

That doesn't sound so bad, except "sleep disturbance" is more like psychotic nightmares that persist even after you stop taking the pill.

To wit:
By night four, my dreams began to take on characteristics of a David Cronenberg movie. Every time I'd drift off, I'd dream that an invisible, malevolent entity was emanating from my air conditioner, which seemed to be rattling even more than usual. I'd nap for twenty minutes or so before bolting awake with an involuntary gasp. I had the uneasy sense that I wasn't alone.
Did we mention the killing of yourslef? Another side effect is, "suicide ideation"

Like a spoiled teenager, I'd suddenly uproot drawers from the bureau, push all the belongings off shelves with a sudden swat of the arm, smash a glass against the wall, and then the crying would take over yet again. Meanwhile, the room seemed to be pulsing and reverberating around me, and my eye would keep zeroing in on objects-the television, the AC, a pair of shoes-and feel as though they were somehow buzzing with life and gleefully watching me endure the biggest meltdown I'd ever had. I had somehow ruined myself, and suicide seemed like a good way to avoid the embarrassment of this fact's being exposed.
This Is My Brain on Chantix [NY Mag]

ACCUTANE - acne
* depressed mood, trouble concentrating, sleep problems, crying spells, aggression or agitation, changes in behavior, hallucinations, thoughts of suicide or hurting yourself;
* sudden numbness or weakness, especially on one side of the body;
* blurred vision, sudden and severe headache or pain behind your eyes, sometimes with vomiting;
* hearing problems, hearing loss, or ringing in your ears;
* seizure (convulsions);
* severe pain in your upper stomach spreading to your back, nausea and vomiting, fast heart rate;
* loss of appetite, dark urine, clay-colored stools, jaundice (yellowing of the skin or eyes);
* severe diarrhea, rectal bleeding, black, bloody, or tarry stools;
* fever, chills, body aches, flu symptoms, purple spots under your skin, easy bruising or bleeding; or
* joint stiffness, bone pain or fracture.

But hey, at least you don't have pimples!

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Technological advances in 1977

What you see is the first Xerox laser printer available in 1977. A fine addition for the office at a modest half a million dollars each. I remember an early Xerox copy machine in the late sixties that was almost the size of a coffin that produced a poor copy that was flimsy and if the chemicals were not quite right the paper was somewhat pinkish.

From the article: Xerox 9700: The Xerox 9700 is largely recognised as the world’s first laser toner printer, ‘largely’ being the operative word. Looking more like a kitchen work top than a printer, it would perhaps be a little sexist to suggest that’s why the pretty lady seems right at home. It is hard to find another reason why she appears to be so happy: when it was released in 1977, the 9700 retailed at $500,000 and took up 5 meters x 4 metres of floor space and produced 120 pages every minute. A sparkling investment.

See more seventies modern electronics
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Animated view of International Space Station LINK

The view here (click on it to see larger image) is a static view from the animation USA Today has on their site showing each stage as it was lifted into space to assemble the International Space Station as it is today.

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I see WALDO !

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Dad smashed daughter's cell phone over mega bill

I could almost imagine a new music group forming called The Smashing Cell Phones (or Smashed) as I read this.

CHEYENNE, Wyoming — In one month, a Cheyenne teenager sent 10,000 text messages and received about the same — all while her family's plan did not include texting.

That means the family's provider — Verizon — charged them for each incoming and outgoing text message.

The girl's parents, Gregg and Jaylene Christoffersen, thought texting had been disabled, so one can imagine their surprise when they got the monthly phone bill and it asked for $4,756.25.

"It just hit us like a rock, like you're stepping into a bus," Gregg Christoffersen said.

The bill was legit.

Dena Christoffersen, 13, had apparently been sending most of these messages at school. That's more than 300 texts within an eight-hour period every day for the whole month.

Needless to say, it drew attention away from what she should have been doing: paying attention in class.

"She went from A's and B's one semester to F's in two months," Dena's dad said.

Hours after the enormous bill arrived, Gregg Christoffersen took a hammer to his daughter's phone.

He and Jaylene also grounded Dena until the end of school.

"I felt really bad, and I have learned my lesson," Dena said, with her head down.

Since she lost her phone, Dena's grades have gone up, and the texting is down to zero.

As for the phone bill, the family says Verizon has been willing to knock it down to a reasonable level.

The Christoffersens are asking school administrators at Johnson Junior High School to crack down on cellphone use during school.

VIA

more with pictures and comments also a news interview in top right corner at LINK
and comments at LINK

The extinction of newpapers

Go on TV, admit shoplifting, be suprized when cops raid

SAN MARCOS – A couple whose house was raided by a fraud task force may be linked to their appearance on the “Dr. Phil” television show.

A couple appeared on an episode of the TV show titled “Shoplifting Confessions” Nov. 19, saying they were “professional shoplifters” who have amassed nearly $1 million in stolen goods, according to the show's Web site. They were identified as Laura and a man who used the names Matthew and Allen.

A lawyer representing Laura and Matthew A. Eaton of San Marcos said the couple appeared on the show in November, but declined to say whether they were guests on that episode or to discuss it further.

A spokesman for the San Diego Regional Fraud Task Force, which conducted the raid on the house on the 1400 block of Leslie Court on Thursday, wouldn't disclose the reason for the raid or if it was connected to the TV show.

“It's still early on in the investigation,” said Greg Meyer, special agent in charge of the U.S. Secret Service San Diego Field Office. “There have been no arrests at this point and no indictments at this point.”

According to the TV show's Web site, a woman named Laura said the couple stole goods in other states, such as Arizona and Nevada, to avoid being recognized.

VIA

Why some churches turn people against religion

I love God, not church greed
By GEORGE LOUIE BROGDON IV

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

We Americans are not “losing our religion,” as syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts charges. Our religion is losing us.

In a March 18 column, Pitts cited a 2008 survey suggesting Americans have been moving away from organized religion for the last two decades.

Pitts blamed perverse church scandals, predatory preachers, violence in the name of religion and intolerant messages as the demons driving this departure from the divine.

While harmful, the problems I and many of my fellow college students see are much more basic.

It is not because priests are playing doctor with the altar boys that my generation is leaving the church. It’s because clergymen are playing politician with our country.

Jerry Falwell’s bygone “Moral Majority” is not our majority. And the unholy union of evangelical Christians and the once-sensible Republican Party has confused the principles of both groups — and their followers.

It is not because a slew of shepherds have built expensive palaces on the backs of their flock. It is because churches have built palaces for themselves. How many multimillion-dollar megachurches did Christ — or Muhammad — need to attract people or do the works of their God, the God of Abraham?

It is not because religious zealots are spilling the blood of the innocent in the name of their God. And it is not because some religious leaders spread messages of persecution and bigotry.

As a 24-year-old product of a Henry County public education — and maybe a few too many years at the University of Georgia — I have read enough history to know that we have long used religion to manipulate people and justify killing them.

I was blessed with a steadfast and loving Methodist upbringing in McDonough. I left the church, driven away by forces less extreme than the actions of Eric Rudolph or the tragic events of 9/11, both of which Pitts cited.

I have vivid memories of Sept. 11, 2001, when it seemed all the air had been sucked out of Union Grove High School in one giant gasp, and every television in the building flashed images of smoke and fire as our teachers — some not much older than I am now — stood quietly, heads bowed, pleading with their God for the courage and wisdom to explain to frightened teenagers what was happening.

I remember the prayer circles — people not close before but now unabashedly coming together to seek guidance from a higher power during dark hours. If there was one comfort that came from that tragedy, it was that people could lean on their faith, and their fellow man, in time of need.

No, my disenchantment with organized religion began on a sunny Sunday morning, in the same pew that my family always sat in at our Methodist church.

My church, like many others, had become too large for our space. And in the grand tradition of Methodism, a committee was formed and a fund-raising drive was kicked off to build a bigger and better, multimillion-dollar house of God.

Suddenly, some Sundays were devoted to numbers and figures, charts and graphs, costs and benefits and losses and gains — not piety and devotion, charity and compassion, humility and service or love for thy neighbor.

As these Sabbath day negotiations went on, even at 16, I thought of the 21st chapter of Matthew, the 11th chapter of Mark, and the 19th chapter of Luke — the only time Christ was angry, driving the merchants out of the temple.

Eventually my church — the church of my confirmation — split in two.

I realized then that churches could be bought and sold just like anything else. Our church had become a company and its congregation the shareholders. I wondered how many shares God still held.

I don’t attend church regularly anymore, but I do speak with God every day. On occasion when I feel particularly lost or troubled, I sneak into the Methodist church in Athens. I have to get in through the office entrance, because the doors to the sanctuary usually are locked.

I see this and other multimillion dollar churches all over our state, equipped with gymnasiums, baseball fields, projector screens and state-of-the-art sound systems.

Then I think of what they cost — in pennies and people. The pennies could have bought clothes for the naked or food for the hungry. The people could have given help to the helpless or given care to the sick.

It did not take a big scandal to drive me away from the church — just a pledge drive.

• George Louie Brogdon IV is a student at the University of Georgia.

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Women shopping and PMS

Now they can blame all that crazy shopping on PMS! (but I wonder if that can explain a 60 something woman doing the same?...sympathy pain shopping? )

Women may be able to blame impulse buys and extravagant shopping on their time of the month, research suggests.

In the 10 days before their periods began women were more likely to go on a spending spree, a study found.

Psychologists believe shopping could be a way for premenstrual women to deal with the negative emotions created by their hormonal changes.

Professor Karen Pine will present her work to a British Psychological Society meeting in Brighton later this week.

She asked 443 women aged 18 to 50 about their spending habits.

Almost two-thirds of the 153 women studied who were in the later stages of their menstrual cycle - known as the luteal phase - admitted they had bought something on an impulse and more than half said they had overspent by more than £25.

A handful of the women said they had overspent by more than £250.

And many felt remorse later. (that could explain the purchase returns a week later)

Professor Pine, of the University of Hertfordshire, said: "Spending was less controlled, more impulsive and more excessive for women in the luteal phase.

"The spending behaviour tends to be a reaction to intense emotions. They are feeling stressed or depressed and are more likely to go shopping to cheer themselves up and using it to regulate their emotions."

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