Archive for November 2011
Fox News fans dumber than folks who watch no news at all!
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission
If Fox News viewers want to be informed about current events, they might as well turn off the TV.
A poll released by Fairleigh Dickinson University on Monday found that people who get their news from Fox News know significantly less about news both in the U.S. and the world than people who watch no news at all.
In a survey of 612 New Jersey natives, Fox News fans flunked questions about Egypt and Syria when compared with people who don’t watch the news. Fox viewers were 18-points less likely to know that Egyptians toppled their government and 6 points less likely to be aware that Syrians have not yet overthrown theirs.
“Because of the controls for partisanship, we know these results are not just driven by Republicans or other groups being more likely to watch Fox News,” Dan Cassino, a Fairleigh Dickinson professor who served as an analyst for the poll, said in the report. “Rather, the results show us that there is something about watching Fox News that leads people to do worse on these questions than those who don’t watch any news at all…”
The most informative outlets were found to be the Sunday morning news shows as well as outlets like the New York Times, USA today and NPR.
Har.
Four drugs cause two-thirds of hospitalizations in older Americans
Warfarin “flower”
Blood thinners and diabetes drugs cause most emergency hospital visits for drug reactions among people over 65 in the United States, a new study shows.
Just four medications or medication groups — used alone or together — were responsible for two-thirds of emergency hospitalizations among older Americans, according to the report. At the top of the list was warfarin, also known as Coumadin, a blood thinner. It accounted for 33 percent of emergency hospital visits. Insulin injections were next on the list, accounting for 14 percent of emergency visits.
Aspirin, clopidogrel and other antiplatelet drugs that help prevent blood clotting were involved in 13 percent of emergency visits. And just behind them were diabetes drugs taken by mouth, called oral hypoglycemic agents, which were implicated in 11 percent of hospitalizations.
All these drugs are commonly prescribed to older adults, and they can be hard to use correctly. One problem they share is a narrow therapeutic index, meaning the line between an effective dose and a hazardous one is thin. The sheer extent to which they are involved in hospitalizations among older people, though, was not expected, said Dr. Dan Budnitz, an author of the study…
As Americans live longer and take more medications — 40 percent of people over 65 take five to nine medications — hospitalizations for accidental overdoses and adverse side effects are likely to increase, experts say…
A common denominator among the drugs topping the list is that they can be difficult to use. Some require blood testing to adjust their doses, and a small dose can have a powerful effect. Blood sugar can be notoriously hard to control in people with diabetes, for example, and taking a slightly larger dose of insulin than needed can send a person into shock. Warfarin, meanwhile, is the classic example of a drug with a narrow margin between therapeutic and toxic doses, requiring regular blood monitoring, and it can interact with many other drugs and foods…
One thing that stood out in the data, the researchers noted, was that none of the four drugs identified as frequent culprits are typically among the types of drugs labeled “high risk” for older adults by major health care groups…
Dr. Budnitz said that the new findings should provide an opportunity to reduce the number of emergency hospitalizations in older adults by focusing on improving the safety of this small group of blood thinners and diabetes medications, rather than by trying to stop the use of drugs typically thought of as risky for this group.
Dr. Budnitz thinks it is critical that patients tell their physicians everything they’re taking. Well, presuming that the digitizing program put in place by President Obama is proceeding at least as quickly as anything else that hasn’t been roadblocked by the Party of NO – seems to me it soon should be practical for that physician to have someone on staff run a database check on his patients for exactly these conflicts and dangers.
Leaving the responsibility up to a patient who may not even be able to spell the crap he’s taking ain’t the most reliable approach. Involving doctor and pharmacy database records makes as much sense or more.
Cyberattack on water plant in Illinois – doesn’t hold water!
Federal officials said Wednesday they have found no evidence to support an initial state report that foreign hackers caused a water pump at an Illinois water plant to fail this month.
The preliminary report, collected by a statewide terrorist intelligence center in Illinois, had said that a Russian hacker had taken control of the operating system at the water plant in Springfield. The pump turned on and off repeatedly, burning out the motor, the report said…
But the Department of Homeland Security and FBI said they failed to confirm reports of a cyberattack. DHS spokesman Chris Ortman called the Illinois state report nothing more than “raw, unconfirmed data.”
He said that the federal investigation also failed to confirm the report’s claim that hackers broke into a software company’s database and retrieved user names and passwords, which enabled access to the water plant system.
“In addition,” Ortman said, “DHS and FBI have concluded that there was no malicious traffic from Russia or any foreign entities, as previously reported.”
Officials from the state intelligence center did not return phone calls seeking comment…
Please, let’s don’t start letting reality, verifiable conclusions or facts stand in the way of Cold Warriors who are required by that alien implant in their brain to transform every possible SNAFU into an assault upon God, Apple Pie and the American Way of Life.
Americans traveling over this extended holiday weekend – WTF?
Click on the image twice – to bring up the whole disaster.
Merkel sees changing the EU constitution as solution – not eurobonds
I don’t know about the rest of you – I’m going shopping
Daylife/Getty Images used by permission
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that EU treaty changes rather than eurobonds will help solve the eurozone debt crisis.
Ahead of European Commission proposals for bonds backed by all 17 eurozone states, she said what was really needed was a political response. Mrs Merkel argued if there was to be a debate on eurobonds, it should be at the end, not the middle of the crisis…
The eurobond plans, due to be presented by the commission on Wednesday, are attracting increasing support, despite Germany’s opposition. Greece’s new Prime Minister, Lucas Papademos, said on Tuesday that eurobonds “or similar tools could provide the means to overcome the crisis”.
Addressing Germany’s confederation of employers in Berlin on Tuesday, the German chancellor said that if changing treaties proved too difficult on an EU level, they would be dealt with instead by the 17 members of the eurozone.
“We have to change the construction of the euro area,” she said. “Treaty changes are for me an immediate part of solving the crisis, the political response to a politically derived confidence crisis.”
Reports on Monday suggested that Britain would accept a “narrow” amendment of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty covering the eurozone in return for a deal on the EU’s working time directive.
Although full details of the commission’s proposals are not yet known, a leaked draft document indicates they would involve three options
An extensive scheme that would completely replace national bonds and would require each eurozone government to guarantee the debt of other countries
A lesser scheme that would see national bonds partially replaced with eurobonds up to a limit that could relate to how closely a country adhered to strict rules.
The replacement of some national bond issues with a limit on guarantees
Flip-flopping hardly describes the way this crisis is going down to the wire. And maybe beyond.
The core countries in the EU – moved heaven and earth and quasi-legitimate accounting practices to extend their newfound domain. The convenience and security of a common currency was moved as quickly as possible in the direction of fiscal and political union with little thought of potential disasters. As far as I can see from this side of the pond.
Now, the lies accepted to justify sleazy economic practices is haunting the politicians who hoped to benefit. Except an increase in risk supersedes an increase in power. It’s looks more likely to me they will have to shrink the European Union back to the nations which can deal responsibly with each other on debt and currency. That’s a single-digit number.
Pic of the day
Vehicles at the Honda car factory in Ayutthaya, central Thailand, are covered in mud as floodwaters recede.
If you’re buying an almost new Honda in the next 3-6 months, look under the seats for silt, first. 
Governors seek commerce for their state – national politicians seek power from ignorant voters
Iowa Soybean Association members at a port on the Po River
In October 1984, Iowa’s governor, Terry Branstad, made his first trip to China. He and his wife flew to Beijing and took an old steamer train about 200 miles southwest to Shijiazhuang, a city in the Hebei province…
Local government officials greeted the Branstads with flowers and a band. One member of the welcoming committee was a young man who would eventually ascend to the ranks of China’s top leadership, Xi Jinping. Currently China’s vice president, Xi is widely expected to succeed President Hu Jintao, who is set to step down next year.
“The friendships you build, you never know when it might pay off in the future,” said Brandstad, who has stayed in touch with Xi over the years. “Treat everybody well. You never know when they might someday be very important.”
Will someone please engrave this on bronze plaques to be placed on the desks of each of our Congress-critters!
Cartoonist Gerald Scarfe memorialized for depicting Margaret Thatcher as Torydactyl
The fossil of a prehistoric flying reptile discovered in Dorset has been named after satirical artist Gerald Scarfe.
The political cartoonist was chosen because of his caricatures of Margaret Thatcher which depicted her as a pointy-nosed “Torydactyl”.
The 13in long pterosaur, discovered in Kimmeridge Bay, has been named Cuspicephalus scarfi. It had a long, pointed head which is unusual for a pterosaur.
The specimen is 155 million years old, from the late Jurassic period, and is believed to be the most substantial pterosaur skull to be found in the UK for nearly 200 years.
Mr Scarfe said: “I’m thrilled and flattered – I never thought Mrs Thatcher would do anything for me – even if it is to be immortalised as a 155-million-year-old fossil…
The species was found by fossil collector Steve Etches, and identified by University of Portsmouth palaeontologist Dr David Martill.
ROFLMAO. Bravo Gerald Scarfe. Bravo and kudos to Dr. David Martill for the choice.
Comprehension and understanding of Tory politics as fossilized is worth a smile to start the day with.
Qantas achieves world-class Fail with their Twitter PR hustle
Qantas PR Manager
Australia’s Qantas Airlines has been left red-faced after an ill-timed public relations campaign and Twitter competition backfired, drawing thousands of angry responses.
Qantas Tuesday invited users of the micro-blogging site to enter a “Qantas Luxury” competition, asking people to describe their “dream luxury in-flight experience” and possibly win a pair of Qantas first-class pyjamas and a toiletries kit.
The timing of the PR exercise was questionable, coming just a day after Qantas and its unions broke off contract negotiations and after Qantas grounded its fleet in late October, a drastic move that stranded thousands of angry customers.
PR experts said the campaign was perhaps Australia’s greatest public relations failure and a classic example of the dangers of unpredictable social media…
Unimpressed Twitter users set a stream of responses ranging from caustic jokes about the carrier to ordinary abuse…
Daniel Angus, using the Twitter name “antmandan,” said Qantas luxury meant “being stranded on the other side of the world without warning when you just want to get home to your 10-month-old daughter.”
Qantas last week hired four social media monitors to keep tabs on what people were saying about it on Twitter and Facebook after the fleet grounding. The carrier has also promised generous compensation for stranded passengers.
Cripes – there’s a job description for a truly bored geek.
My favorite Tweet was from user “stanofid” who called the campaign the “Hindenburg of social media strategies.”
Tunisia’s constitutional assembly holds the nation’s first session
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission
Tunisia’s constitutional assembly, elected after a revolution that inspired the “Arab Spring” uprisings, held its opening session on Tuesday, described by officials as an historic step toward democracy.
The assembly, which will sit for a year to draft a new constitution, is dominated by a moderate Islamist party whose election win last month resonated in other countries in the region where Islamists are gaining ground after the popular protests which swept three Arab heads of state from power.
Members of the assembly, senior officials in the incoming coalition government, and ministers in the outgoing cabinet stood for the Tunisian national anthem in a ceremony to open the 217-seat assembly.
“This is an historic moment…for the transition to democracy,” Fouad Mebazza, the outgoing interim president, said at the ceremony, in the same building where the previous rubber-stamp parliament sat before the revolution…
Tunisia’s government will be dominated by the moderate Islamist Ennahda party, which emerged from the election with the biggest contingent in the assembly, but short of a majority…
Ennahda has shared out the top three state posts with two smaller, secularist parties. Hamadi Jbeli, Ennahda’s secretary general, will be prime minister, the most powerful role.
Moncef Marzouki, head of coalition partner the Congress for the Republic, will have the largely ceremonial post of Tunisian president. Mustafa Ben Jaafar, leader of the Ettakatol party, was nominated as speaker of the new assembly. A new cabinet line-up, with posts shared out between the three coalition partners, is to be announced soon.
In its first act, the assembly voted to confirm Ben Jaafar as speaker.
RTFA for details of this and that. I’ve made myself a bit of a permanent note to follow the difficult process of growing into democracy. There are foreseeable cultural problems at every turn. We must give credit where and when due to this brave nation setting forth on a new path.
