Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Stuart G
Stuart G's Journal
Stuart G's Journal
April 15, 2013
One day if we blessed, we all gonna get old." So says Tommy Mickens. Decades ago, Mickens was one of the top drug lords in Queens, where he ran a multimillion-dollar cocaine enterprise. These days, after serving 20 years in prison, he's doing his best to give back and do something positive by helping seniors to exercise.
"I always loved older people," he told Yahoo News. "I learned from older people, I wanted to find a way to help them. Help those who couldn't help themselves and bring it back to my community."
....................farther down........................................
According to an article from the New York Post, which served as motivation for this blog entry, Mickens's clients love him. "He’s our pride and joy," 73-year-old Daphne Avery told the Post. "We love him regardless of what he’s done—his past is his past. This is the present."
So what's a workout like with Tommy Mickens? "I work from the bottom up," he says. "I work with sciatica. Problems like cramps and muscle spasms. Work on fingers and hands and arthritis. And I do it all in 30 minutes, and it's fun for them."
"Seniors are like kids," he says. "They can sense when somebody's not real. And they can sense the love I have for my mom and for them. That's why they're so willing to work with me and they get better as time goes on. And I'm proud of them."
Former NY Drug Lord Turns Life Around Helping Seniors, Yahoo News:
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/former-ny-drug-lord-turns-life-around-helping-221210378.htmlOne day if we blessed, we all gonna get old." So says Tommy Mickens. Decades ago, Mickens was one of the top drug lords in Queens, where he ran a multimillion-dollar cocaine enterprise. These days, after serving 20 years in prison, he's doing his best to give back and do something positive by helping seniors to exercise.
"I always loved older people," he told Yahoo News. "I learned from older people, I wanted to find a way to help them. Help those who couldn't help themselves and bring it back to my community."
....................farther down........................................
According to an article from the New York Post, which served as motivation for this blog entry, Mickens's clients love him. "He’s our pride and joy," 73-year-old Daphne Avery told the Post. "We love him regardless of what he’s done—his past is his past. This is the present."
So what's a workout like with Tommy Mickens? "I work from the bottom up," he says. "I work with sciatica. Problems like cramps and muscle spasms. Work on fingers and hands and arthritis. And I do it all in 30 minutes, and it's fun for them."
"Seniors are like kids," he says. "They can sense when somebody's not real. And they can sense the love I have for my mom and for them. That's why they're so willing to work with me and they get better as time goes on. And I'm proud of them."
April 14, 2013
A Good News Story...I think you will like this..
I found this one at the Good News section of the Media Group,
four minutes..wonderful story that I think you will like...
OP by
OneGrassRoot
title:
Bullied Boy in New School Becomes "The Doorman" -- (kindness breeds kindness)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1267393#post4
April 14, 2013
General Discussion...not a place for....Good News....
I've been there many times..so have you...now I got me a theory.. that they ..don't want to discuss ..Good News that is my theory...so here is ........ good news..
.....that is kinda OK>..so I put this one up....
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022666523
link on it and you will see it is about a couple of storms in the plains that may have begun to end a severe drought there..
....You think people would at least look at it...
.....................well...........
..........it has a very few views indeed and looks like it will not get no more.....cause it is on page three back...and going down quick....and............
......................... what do you think of that???
I had to point it out here...you will understand...eh????
April 13, 2013
Storm Brings Drought Relief to Parts of the Plains
By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist
April 13, 2013; 6:35 AM
A wild storm, which brought a blizzard and severe thunderstorms this week, also delivered heavy rainfall (and snow) to some very needy areas of the Plains.
The storm has delivered a general swath of 1- to 6-inch rainfall or the liquid equivalent from portions of Wyoming, eastward to Iowa.
Many of these areas, especially locations from the High Plains to the Rockies, have been experiencing building drought since last summer
There have been improvements in all stages of drought over the much of the middle of the nation. This is the first week in many, where the drought status has improved in more places, rather than worsened.
Good News...Storm Brings Relief to Drought Areas in Parts of the Plains
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/storm-brings-drought-relief-to/10121535Storm Brings Drought Relief to Parts of the Plains
By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist
April 13, 2013; 6:35 AM
A wild storm, which brought a blizzard and severe thunderstorms this week, also delivered heavy rainfall (and snow) to some very needy areas of the Plains.
The storm has delivered a general swath of 1- to 6-inch rainfall or the liquid equivalent from portions of Wyoming, eastward to Iowa.
Many of these areas, especially locations from the High Plains to the Rockies, have been experiencing building drought since last summer
There have been improvements in all stages of drought over the much of the middle of the nation. This is the first week in many, where the drought status has improved in more places, rather than worsened.
April 13, 2013
Question of "Medical Ethics"..vs.."Doctor's Income"...What do you think????
Let us imagine this senerio....let us discuss it..
What if a new solution was found that would lift depression in 25 % of all cases. The solution was very very cheap, available to everyone and using/taking it was as simple as drinking....let us say.... ... 4 eight oz classes of water in the morning...and that the
solution was indeed just plain water.. ...now this was just water.. tap water....and it made people significantly healthier...
.If all the depressed people in the U.S.A drank this, they would be much healthier, and would go to the doctor 25 percent less...Psychiatrists would see their income reduced 25 percent ..Internists who depend on people who go on a regular schedule, would also see a reduction of 25 percent..maybe more...Here is the question:
Would doctors tell their patients about this discovery and encourage them to use it, if it indeed lessoned their income significantly?
Particularly psychiatrists..would they make sure their depressed patients drank their water, if no pharmacutical comapny was getting a cut, and the psychiatrists themselves would financially suffer, would they say to their patients..Did you drink your water today??? and really follow up on each person??? and the stuff really worked??? The patient says, "I don't need to come as often."...
Now what do you think the doctors would do??? It is just a question for discussion..nothing more..I often wonder about the doctors I've met..in many specialties...I just am not sure.. that is why I ask you...
April 12, 2013
Huffington Post:
Here’s something to “Like" if you're Facebook: getting a tax rebate despite pulling in billions in profits. The social media giant paid a negative 40.4 percent tax rate in 2012, according to a report released Thursday by the Center for Tax Justice, a left-leaning research group. That’s way less than the estimated $1 billion tax bill of the company’s own CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg. How did Facebook manage to get $429 million back from the government on its more than $1 billion in profits? By writing off the value of the stock options the company gave Zuckerberg as part of his compensation, according to CTJ.
As Businessweek explains, this practice is perfectly legal. For tax purposes, corporations are allowed to treat executive stock options the same way they would treat regular compensation -- as an expense that cuts their profits. Facebook relied on just this break to reduce its tax burden in 2012, according to CTJ, and the company is able to do so because so much of its executive pay comes in the form of stock options.
A Facebook spokeswoman said in an emailed statement to The Huffington Post that in its early years, the company offered potential employees stock options as part of their compensation "in lieu of the cash it did not yet have," which the company says helps explain the company's broader tax situation.
"Facebook paid billions of dollars in federal and state taxes after its IPO on behalf of the employees who exercised stock options and as a result of RSUs vesting," the spokeswoman wrote. "Billions of dollars went to the US Treasury and the California state treasury, as well it should have. The way these taxes are collected changes over time, and that is likely to be the case with Facebook. It's a mistake to look at only the corporate tax revenue while ignoring the billions of taxes paid from initial shareholders."
Still, that doesn’t make the practice uncontroversial. Senator Carl Levin (D-MI.) has urged lawmakers to close this specific loophole loophole for years. His office estimated that Facebook got a $16 billion tax deduction as a result of the stock options loophole when the company went public in May of last year
Facebook Paid A Negative 40.4 Percent Tax Rate In 2012: Analysis ..Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/11/facebook-tax-rate_n_3060562.htmlHuffington Post:
Here’s something to “Like" if you're Facebook: getting a tax rebate despite pulling in billions in profits. The social media giant paid a negative 40.4 percent tax rate in 2012, according to a report released Thursday by the Center for Tax Justice, a left-leaning research group. That’s way less than the estimated $1 billion tax bill of the company’s own CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg. How did Facebook manage to get $429 million back from the government on its more than $1 billion in profits? By writing off the value of the stock options the company gave Zuckerberg as part of his compensation, according to CTJ.
As Businessweek explains, this practice is perfectly legal. For tax purposes, corporations are allowed to treat executive stock options the same way they would treat regular compensation -- as an expense that cuts their profits. Facebook relied on just this break to reduce its tax burden in 2012, according to CTJ, and the company is able to do so because so much of its executive pay comes in the form of stock options.
A Facebook spokeswoman said in an emailed statement to The Huffington Post that in its early years, the company offered potential employees stock options as part of their compensation "in lieu of the cash it did not yet have," which the company says helps explain the company's broader tax situation.
"Facebook paid billions of dollars in federal and state taxes after its IPO on behalf of the employees who exercised stock options and as a result of RSUs vesting," the spokeswoman wrote. "Billions of dollars went to the US Treasury and the California state treasury, as well it should have. The way these taxes are collected changes over time, and that is likely to be the case with Facebook. It's a mistake to look at only the corporate tax revenue while ignoring the billions of taxes paid from initial shareholders."
Still, that doesn’t make the practice uncontroversial. Senator Carl Levin (D-MI.) has urged lawmakers to close this specific loophole loophole for years. His office estimated that Facebook got a $16 billion tax deduction as a result of the stock options loophole when the company went public in May of last year
April 12, 2013
21 Foot Wasp Nest Found in Abandoned House in Spain.
not a pretty nest, you are warned..
http://www.odditycentral.com/news/scary-mother-nature-giant-wasp-nest-housing-millions-of-stingers-found-in-abandoned-house.html
April 8, 2013
7 April 2013 Last updated at 20:08 ET
Red meat chemical 'damages heart', say US scientists.
By James Gallagher
Health and science reporter, BBC News
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
A study in the journal Nature Medicine showed that carnitine in red meat was broken down by bacteria in the gut. This kicked off a chain of events that resulted in higher levels of cholesterol and an increased risk of heart disease.
Dieticians warned there may be a risk to people taking carnitine supplements. There has been a wealth of studies suggesting that regularly eating red meat may be damaging to health.
In the UK, the government recommends eating no more than 70g of red or processed meat a day - the equivalent of two slices of bacon.
Saturated fat and the way processed meat is preserved are thought to contribute to heart problems. However, this was not thought to be the whole story.................
Gut bugs
Experiments on mice and people showed that bacteria in the gut could eat carnitine. Carnitine was broken down into a gas, which was converted in the liver to a chemical called TMAO. In the study, TMAO was strongly linked with the build-up of fatty deposits in blood vessels, which can lead to heart disease and death.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
another more complete link from Scientific American:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=red-meat-clogs-arteries-bacteria
This is another link on the study ( the actual study is in Nature Medicine)..this is Nature Magazine:
http://www.nature.com/news/red-meat-wrong-bacteria-bad-news-for-hearts-1.12746
This proves the theory about red meat. The study presents a smoking gun for heart disease. Guess who consumes the most red meat?? Not the U.S.A...we are second:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/03/world-meat-consumption_n_1475760.html#s935926&title=2_United_States
Red Meat Chemical Damages Heart, Say U.S. Scientists: BBC Health
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22042995#7 April 2013 Last updated at 20:08 ET
Red meat chemical 'damages heart', say US scientists.
By James Gallagher
Health and science reporter, BBC News
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
A study in the journal Nature Medicine showed that carnitine in red meat was broken down by bacteria in the gut. This kicked off a chain of events that resulted in higher levels of cholesterol and an increased risk of heart disease.
Dieticians warned there may be a risk to people taking carnitine supplements. There has been a wealth of studies suggesting that regularly eating red meat may be damaging to health.
In the UK, the government recommends eating no more than 70g of red or processed meat a day - the equivalent of two slices of bacon.
Saturated fat and the way processed meat is preserved are thought to contribute to heart problems. However, this was not thought to be the whole story.................
Gut bugs
Experiments on mice and people showed that bacteria in the gut could eat carnitine. Carnitine was broken down into a gas, which was converted in the liver to a chemical called TMAO. In the study, TMAO was strongly linked with the build-up of fatty deposits in blood vessels, which can lead to heart disease and death.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
another more complete link from Scientific American:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=red-meat-clogs-arteries-bacteria
This is another link on the study ( the actual study is in Nature Medicine)..this is Nature Magazine:
http://www.nature.com/news/red-meat-wrong-bacteria-bad-news-for-hearts-1.12746
This proves the theory about red meat. The study presents a smoking gun for heart disease. Guess who consumes the most red meat?? Not the U.S.A...we are second:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/03/world-meat-consumption_n_1475760.html#s935926&title=2_United_States
April 7, 2013
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Some people have had it with TV. They've had enough of the 100-plus channel universe. They don't like timing their lives around network show schedules. They're tired of $100-plus monthly bills.
A growing number of them have stopped paying for cable and satellite TV service, and don't even use an antenna to get free signals over the air. These people are watching shows and movies on the Internet, sometimes via cellphone connections. Last month, the Nielsen Co. started labeling people in this group "Zero TV" households, because they fall outside the traditional definition of a TV home. There are 5 million of these residences in the U.S., up from 2 million in 2007.
Winning back the Zero TV crowd will be one of the many issues broadcasters discuss at their national meeting, called the NAB Show, taking place this week in Las Vegas.
While show creators and networks make money from this group's viewing habits through deals with online video providers and from advertising on their own websites and apps, broadcasters only get paid when they relay such programming in traditional ways. Unless broadcasters can adapt to modern platforms, their revenue from Zero TV viewers will be zero.
"Getting broadcast programing on all the gizmos and gadgets — like tablets, the backseats of cars, and laptops — is hugely important," says Dennis Wharton, a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I have a TV and use it for broadcast stuff, very rarely..Occasionally for some news. I do not have cable, I have never had it, have a free antenna and don't know crap about the shows. I really lost interest when they took off, Star Trek Enterprise..and that was not last week. I catch a lot of the stuff that is important right here at DU and on the net..
Boadcasters Worry about Zero TV Homes : Yahoo News
http://news.yahoo.com/broadcasters-worry-zero-tv-homes-154357101--finance.htmlLOS ANGELES (AP) — Some people have had it with TV. They've had enough of the 100-plus channel universe. They don't like timing their lives around network show schedules. They're tired of $100-plus monthly bills.
A growing number of them have stopped paying for cable and satellite TV service, and don't even use an antenna to get free signals over the air. These people are watching shows and movies on the Internet, sometimes via cellphone connections. Last month, the Nielsen Co. started labeling people in this group "Zero TV" households, because they fall outside the traditional definition of a TV home. There are 5 million of these residences in the U.S., up from 2 million in 2007.
Winning back the Zero TV crowd will be one of the many issues broadcasters discuss at their national meeting, called the NAB Show, taking place this week in Las Vegas.
While show creators and networks make money from this group's viewing habits through deals with online video providers and from advertising on their own websites and apps, broadcasters only get paid when they relay such programming in traditional ways. Unless broadcasters can adapt to modern platforms, their revenue from Zero TV viewers will be zero.
"Getting broadcast programing on all the gizmos and gadgets — like tablets, the backseats of cars, and laptops — is hugely important," says Dennis Wharton, a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I have a TV and use it for broadcast stuff, very rarely..Occasionally for some news. I do not have cable, I have never had it, have a free antenna and don't know crap about the shows. I really lost interest when they took off, Star Trek Enterprise..and that was not last week. I catch a lot of the stuff that is important right here at DU and on the net..
April 7, 2013
Think Progress:
By Annie-Rose Strasser on Apr 5, 2013 at 5:30 pm
The Americans Civil Liberties Union on Friday revealed that courts in Ohio are illegally throwing poor people in jail for being unable to pay off a debt.
In a report titled, “The Outskirts of Hope,” (PDF) the ACLU shines a light on a harrowing “debtors’ prison” system in Ohio — one that violates both the United States’ and the Ohio constitution. Ohioans are being jailed for “as small as a few hundred dollars,” despite the constitutional violation, and the economic evidence that it costs the state more to pay for their jail sentence than the amount of the debt.
In its report, the ACLU details the stories of several people sent to debtors’ prison. Jack Dawley owed $1,500 in “fines and costs in the Norwalk Municipal Court,” and was behind on child support payments, leading the Ohio courts to send him to prison in Wisconsin for 3 and a half years. He still struggles with trying to repay the fines. Another victim of the system, single mother Tricia Metcalf, was taken to jail each and every time she wasn’t able to make her $50-a-month payments on fines for writing bad checks. Megan Sharp, whose husband is currently in jail on overdue fines, was unable to pay $300 in fines for driving on a suspended license and went to jail for 10 days. When she got out, she owed $200 more on top of the original amount. Both she and her husband are unemployed.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Report: Ohio is Illegally Throwing People in Jail for Oweing Money: Think Progress
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/04/05/1829601/ohio-debtors-prison/Think Progress:
By Annie-Rose Strasser on Apr 5, 2013 at 5:30 pm
The Americans Civil Liberties Union on Friday revealed that courts in Ohio are illegally throwing poor people in jail for being unable to pay off a debt.
In a report titled, “The Outskirts of Hope,” (PDF) the ACLU shines a light on a harrowing “debtors’ prison” system in Ohio — one that violates both the United States’ and the Ohio constitution. Ohioans are being jailed for “as small as a few hundred dollars,” despite the constitutional violation, and the economic evidence that it costs the state more to pay for their jail sentence than the amount of the debt.
In its report, the ACLU details the stories of several people sent to debtors’ prison. Jack Dawley owed $1,500 in “fines and costs in the Norwalk Municipal Court,” and was behind on child support payments, leading the Ohio courts to send him to prison in Wisconsin for 3 and a half years. He still struggles with trying to repay the fines. Another victim of the system, single mother Tricia Metcalf, was taken to jail each and every time she wasn’t able to make her $50-a-month payments on fines for writing bad checks. Megan Sharp, whose husband is currently in jail on overdue fines, was unable to pay $300 in fines for driving on a suspended license and went to jail for 10 days. When she got out, she owed $200 more on top of the original amount. Both she and her husband are unemployed.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Profile Information
Gender: MaleHometown: Skokie, Illinois
Current location: Skokie, Illinois
Member since: Tue Dec 18, 2007, 12:07 PM
Number of posts: 38,420