Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/266005901?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Sunday, November 25, 2012
Mercedes Ener-G-Force concept imagines the SUV of 2025
Every year, the Los Angeles Auto Show hosts a challenge among automotive designers to concoct far-flung ideas about the future of transportation. This year?s theme asked what the law enforcement rides of 2025 might look like, and the sketchers at Mercedes-Benz were so enamored with their design they built a life-size version, creating a Gelandewagon for the end of the world.
Dubbed the Ener-G-Force, the truck is in Mercedes? own words ?pure science fiction,? but it does provide a few hints as to where Mercedes designers see SUV styles heading. Based on the military-grade G-Class SUVs, the Ener-G-Force features built-in police lights, a bull bar integrated into the grille and 20-inch off-road wheels ?guarantee the right-of-way even where no way exists.? Since this is 2025, power comes from a hydrogen fuel cell sending electricity to motors in each wheel hub.
As part of the design competition, Mercedes filled the Ener-G-Force with a few less realistic, imaginary tools. The hydrogen from the fuel cell comes from a more up-to-date take on Mr. Fusion that pulls hydrogen from any given source, and stores the water produced by the cells in roof tanks.
The space where a spare tire goes on the modern G-Class is filled with tools. And the roof rack includes a ?terrascan? topography sensor that adjusts the suspension for different terrain. Given that Mercedes already sells technology that attempts to sense the road and even the wakefulness of the drivtr, some of this sounds like it could be on a options list well before 2025.
Comments are moderated. Please keep them clean and brief.
Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/11/mercedes-ener-g-force-concept-imagines-the-suv-of-2025/
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Western Belize Happenings!: Doctors die painless and peacefully ...
by Ken Murray| Years ago, Charlie, a highly respected orthopedist and a mentor of mine, found a lump in his stomach. He had a surgeon explore the area, and the diagnosis was pancreatic cancer. This surgeon was one of the best in the country. He had even invented a new procedure for this exact cancer that could triple a patient?s five-year-survival odds?from 5 percent to 15 percent?albeit with a poor quality of life. Charlie was uninterested. He went home the next day, closed his practice, and never set foot in a hospital again. He focused on spending time with family and feeling as good as possible. Several months later, he died at home. He got no chemotherapy, radiation, or surgical treatment. Medicare didn?t spend much on him.It?s not a frequent topic of discussion, but doctors die, too. And they don?t die like the rest of us. What?s unusual about them is not how much treatment they get compared to most Americans, but how little. For all the time they spend fending off the deaths of others, they tend to be fairly serene when faced with death themselves. They know exactly what is going to happen, they know the choices, and they generally have access to any sort of medical care they could want. But they go gently.
Of course, doctors don?t want to die; they want to live. But they know enough about modern medicine to know its limits. And they know enough about death to know what all people fear most: dying in pain, and dying alone. They?ve talked about this with their families. They want to be sure, when the time comes, that no heroic measures will happen?that they will never experience, during their last moments on earth, someone breaking their ribs in an attempt to resuscitate them with CPR (that?s what happens if CPR is done right).Almost all medical professionals have seen what we call ?futile care? being performed on people. That?s when doctors bring the cutting edge of technology to bear on a grievously ill person near the end of life. The patient will get cut open, perforated with tubes, hooked up to machines, and assaulted with drugs. All of this occurs in the Intensive Care Unit at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars a day. What it buys is misery we would not inflict on a terrorist. I cannot count the number of times fellow physicians have told me, in words that vary only slightly, ?Promise me if you find me like this that you?ll kill me.? They mean it. Some medical personnel wear medallions stamped ?NO CODE? to tell physicians not to perform CPR on them. I have even seen it as a tattoo.
To administer medical care that makes people suffer is anguishing. Physicians are trained to gather information without revealing any of their own feelings, but in private, among fellow doctors, they?ll vent. ?How can anyone do that to their family members?? they?ll ask. I suspect it?s one reason physicians have higher rates of alcohol abuse and depression than professionals in most other fields. I know it?s one reason I stopped participating in hospital care for the last 10 years of my practice.
How has it come to this?that doctors administer so much care that they wouldn?t want for themselves? The simple, or not-so-simple, answer is this: patients, doctors, and the system.
To see how patients play a role, imagine a scenario in which someone has lost consciousness and been admitted to an emergency room. As is so often the case, no one has made a plan for this situation, and shocked and scared family members find themselves caught up in a maze of choices. They?re overwhelmed. When doctors ask if they want ?everything? done, they answer yes. Then the nightmare begins. Sometimes, a family really means ?do everything,? but often they just mean ?do everything that?s reasonable.? The problem is that they may not know what?s reasonable, nor, in their confusion and sorrow, will they ask about it or hear what a physician may be telling them. For their part, doctors told to do ?everything? will do it, whether it is reasonable or not.
The above scenario is a common one. Feeding into the problem are unrealistic expectations of what doctors can accomplish. Many people think of CPR as a reliable lifesaver when, in fact, the results are usually poor. I?ve had hundreds of people brought to me in the emergency room after getting CPR. Exactly one, a healthy man who?d had no heart troubles (for those who want specifics, he had a ?tension pneumothorax?), walked out of the hospital. If a patient suffers from severe illness, old age, or a terminal disease, the odds of a good outcome from CPR are infinitesimal, while the odds of suffering are overwhelming. Poor knowledge and misguided expectations lead to a lot of bad decisions.
But of course it?s not just patients making these things happen. Doctors play an enabling role, too. The trouble is that even doctors who hate to administer futile care must find a way to address the wishes of patients and families. Imagine, once again, the emergency room with those grieving, possibly hysterical, family members. They do not know the doctor. Establishing trust and confidence under such circumstances is a very delicate thing. People are prepared to think the doctor is acting out of base motives, trying to save time, or money, or effort, especially if the doctor is advising against further treatment.
Some doctors are stronger communicators than others, and some doctors are more adamant, but the pressures they all face are similar. When I faced circumstances involving end-of-life choices, I adopted the approach of laying out only the options that I thought were reasonable (as I would in any situation) as early in the process as possible. When patients or families brought up unreasonable choices, I would discuss the issue in layman?s terms that portrayed the downsides clearly. If patients or families still insisted on treatments I considered pointless or harmful, I would offer to transfer their care to another doctor or hospital.
Should I have been more forceful at times? I know that some of those transfers still haunt me. One of the patients of whom I was most fond was an attorney from a famous political family. She had severe diabetes and terrible circulation, and, at one point, she developed a painful sore on her foot. Knowing the hazards of hospitals, I did everything I could to keep her from resorting to surgery. Still, she sought out outside experts with whom I had no relationship. Not knowing as much about her as I did, they decided to perform bypass surgery on her chronically clogged blood vessels in both legs. This didn?t restore her circulation, and the surgical wounds wouldn?t heal. Her feet became gangrenous, and she endured bilateral leg amputations. Two weeks later, in the famous medical center in which all this had occurred, she died.
It?s easy to find fault with both doctors and patients in such stories, but in many ways all the parties are simply victims of a larger system that encourages excessive treatment. In some unfortunate cases, doctors use the fee-for-service model to do everything they can, no matter how pointless, to make money. More commonly, though, doctors are fearful of litigation and do whatever they?re asked, with little feedback, to avoid getting in trouble.
Even when the right preparations have been made, the system can still swallow people up. One of my patients was a man named Jack, a 78-year-old who had been ill for years and undergone about 15 major surgical procedures. He explained to me that he never, under any circumstances, wanted to be placed on life support machines again. One Saturday, however, Jack suffered a massive stroke and got admitted to the emergency room unconscious, without his wife. Doctors did everything possible to resuscitate him and put him on life support in the ICU. This was Jack?s worst nightmare. When I arrived at the hospital and took over Jack?s care, I spoke to his wife and to hospital staff, bringing in my office notes with his care preferences. Then I turned off the life support machines and sat with him. He died two hours later.
Even with all his wishes documented, Jack hadn?t died as he?d hoped. The system had intervened. One of the nurses, I later found out, even reported my unplugging of Jack to the authorities as a possible homicide. Nothing came of it, of course; Jack?s wishes had been spelled out explicitly, and he?d left the paperwork to prove it. But the prospect of a police investigation is terrifying for any physician. I could far more easily have left Jack on life support against his stated wishes, prolonging his life, and his suffering, a few more weeks. I would even have made a little more money, and Medicare would have ended up with an additional $500,000 bill. It?s no wonder many doctors err on the side of overtreatment.
But doctors still don?t over-treat themselves. They see the consequences of this constantly. Almost anyone can find a way to die in peace at home, and pain can be managed better than ever. Hospice care, which focuses on providing terminally ill patients with comfort and dignity rather than on futile cures, provides most people with much better final days. Amazingly, studies have found that people placed in hospice care often live longer than people with the same disease who are seeking active cures. I was struck to hear on the radio recently that the famous reporter Tom Wicker had ?died peacefully at home, surrounded by his family.? Such stories are, thankfully, increasingly common.
Several years ago, my older cousin Torch (born at home by the light of a flashlight?or torch) had a seizure that turned out to be the result of lung cancer that had gone to his brain. I arranged for him to see various specialists, and we learned that with aggressive treatment of his condition, including three to five hospital visits a week for chemotherapy, he would live perhaps four months. Ultimately, Torch decided against any treatment and simply took pills for brain swelling. He moved in with me.
We spent the next eight months doing a bunch of things that he enjoyed, having fun together like we hadn?t had in decades. We went to Disneyland, his first time. We?d hang out at home. Torch was a sports nut, and he was very happy to watch sports and eat my cooking. He even gained a bit of weight, eating his favorite foods rather than hospital foods. He had no serious pain, and he remained high-spirited. One day, he didn?t wake up. He spent the next three days in a coma-like sleep and then died. The cost of his medical care for those eight months, for the one drug he was taking, was about $20.
Torch was no doctor, but he knew he wanted a life of quality, not just quantity. Don?t most of us? If there is a state of the art of end-of-life care, it is this: death with dignity. As for me, my physician has my choices. They were easy to make, as they are for most physicians. There will be no heroics, and I will go gentle into that good night. Like my mentor Charlie. Like my cousin Torch. Like my fellow doctors.
Ken Murray, MD, is Clinical Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at USC.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? __________________________________
SO WHAT ARE THE PAINLESS PEACEFUL WAYS TO DIE IN BELIZE?? NEMBUTAL?? MUST YOU HANG YOURSELF?? WHAT ARE THE CHOICES?? HOW DO YOU GET A DOCTOR TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH OF THE TYPE OF LIFE EXPECTANCY AND QUALITY OF THAT TIME LEFT TO YOU?? So far in my own quest for these simple truths, I have found no doctors willing to give the answers.
Source: http://westernbelizehappenings.blogspot.com/2012/11/doctors-die-painless-and-peacefully.html
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Chilling Effect: Air-Conditioner Repairs Undermine Coolant Restrictions
Marcus Yam for The New York Times
A repair technician in New Jersey removed an air-conditioning unit that uses HCFC-22, which is banned for use in new units, to install a new one that uses a different coolant, R-410A.
When Mark Spector?s central air-conditioning system stopped cooling his Trumbull, Conn., home this summer, he sent an S O S to his repairman. What happened next illustrates the myriad challenges the United States faces as it tries to phase out the popular but environmentally devastating cooling gas that was in Mr. Spector?s unit.
The Environmental Protection Agency has tried to reduce use of this gas, HCFC-22, which depletes the ozone layer and contributes to global warming, by imposing strict quotas on its production. Since 2010, it has also banned the sale of new air-conditioning units containing the compound, and has promoted recycling of the gas from old machines so it will not be released.
But what followed at Mr. Spector?s home circumvented all the agency?s rules and good intentions: Instead of finding and repairing the hole in his aging unit, a complicated task, a serviceman pumped in more coolant, which leaked out by the next day. When Mr. Spector called around for another solution, a salesman offered to swap in a new condenser unit, but one that still used HCFC-22 ? meaning one more American home would continue relying on an environmentally damaging coolant for years.
HCFC-22 is being phased out of air conditioners worldwide under an international treaty called the Montreal Protocol, and the United States has aggressively pressed poor countries to pick up the pace. But the United States has yet to put its own house in order. And, with 140 million central air units still running on HCFC-22 in this country, it is a major offender.
Leaks abound in working equipment. Coolant seeps out of discarded equipment in landfills. Regulatory loopholes allow manufacturers to sell parts that rely on HCFC-22, so systems using the old gas can be refurbished rather than replaced. There is almost no reclamation of the gas from old machines for recycling. The E.P.A. is behind schedule in imposing rules to ratchet down domestic production, and smuggling is rarely detected. Even where there are regulations ? for example, repair technicians are legally bound to collect old gas rather than vent it ? there is little enforcement.
And, as Mr. Spector discovered, many of the environmental crimes and misdeeds that keep the country dependent on HCFC-22 happen on your property, most likely without your knowledge.
?It?s totally illegal to vent gas, but it?s also totally inconspicuous,? said Stephen O. Andersen, a former E.P.A. official who has campaigned for better controls on cooling gases. ?I always watch like a hawk when they?re in my yard,? he said of technicians.
The concentration of HCFC-22 in the atmosphere is 218 parts per trillion, more than double the amount two decades ago, and it gets there in a number of ways. Low-quality or old equipment leaks, and detecting the colorless and odorless gas without pressure-testing devices is difficult. Sometimes the release is intentional, because it costs less. For example, installing a new part properly usually requires first siphoning a machine?s coolant into a canister, for later replacement. But it is quicker, though illegal, just to cut the line. A technician saves half an hour on a job, and the customer gets a smaller bill.
Bobby Ring, who runs a servicing company in suburban New Jersey, said that makes it hard for him to compete. ?There are contractors out there who refuse to make the investment in recovery equipment to reclaim or recover refrigerants, and no one is looking, so ? phsssst ? they let the refrigerant escape,? he said.
Although large companies, which are required to report use of the gas, have been fined for large leaks, the E.P.A. has never prosecuted a residential service company for intentionally releasing HCFC-22.
Asked about the lack of backyard enforcement, David Bloomgren, a spokesman for the E.P.A., said it is ?a challenge to locate or obtain evidence of illegal venting,? so the agency focused on large polluters but encouraged homeowners to report possible backyard violations they observed to an E.P.A. tip site at epa.gov/tips/.
While it is hard to quantify exactly how much coolant is illegally released from America?s residential air conditioners, the E.P.A. estimates that only 7 percent of used coolant is turned in for recycling.
?The vast majority of it hits the sky,? illegally vented, said Kevin Zugibe, chief executive of Hudson Technologies Inc., a company set up to recycle HCFC-22. Under the Montreal Protocol, the United States has until 2015 to cut production and imports of newly made HCFC-22 to 10 percent of what it was a decade ago.
Without a much better supply of recycled HCFC-22, the United States will not be able to do that ? or have enough to service all the older air conditioners, grocery store freezers and other refrigeration equipment.
In the European Union, only recycled or reclaimed HCFC-22 can be legally used to service equipment. In Australia and Japan, recovery of the gas from old appliances is mandatory, and technicians receive a fee for collection.
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Black Friday: Stay Home and be Thankful | Parenting Without A ...
I confess I fear Black Friday. As a child, I feared Black Friday the way others feared the dark, strangers and death.?Black Friday sounded?ominous?and lurking, something to feed my overly active childish imagination and nightmares. Black Friday -- a day where the sun never rises and darkness?suffocates?the unicorns. My family stayed in pajamas all day safely ensconced in our house, while we watched the television news coverage filled with images of crazed adult shoppers shoving and pushing each other over trivial things.
While my fear has dwindled (a little), I still refuse to leave the house on Black Friday. In fact, I prefer to stay tucked away inside my house until Cyber Monday. This year, I am staying home with my family, turning off the television and focusing on my many blessings. Please take a minute or several to reflect on your many blessings in the midst of the Black Friday chaos.
I am most thankful for the return of laughter and humor into my life. Before my child was diagnosed with a chronic illness and our lives were forever changed, laughter was something I took for granted. It was background noise in an already noisy house stuffed with pets, children and ensuing chaos. And then, my child got sick. Laughter was a luxury we didn't have time for in the midst of overwhelming fear and crisis management. It disappeared as if it had never been there at all.
But slowly as a flower unfurls and blooms in the springtime, laughter reappeared. I was hesitant to embrace it. I was afraid. I was worried that I was somehow being disrespectful to my child and her illness. Yet, my child was the one who embraced the laughter, the silliness. And so, laughter poured into our home again. It knocked down the walls, chased away most of the shadows, eased my weary soul.
I am thankful for laughter. May it always be the soundtrack of my home and yours!
Yours,
Crystal Intini Alperin
All of the bloggers at Parenting Without A Parachute wish you many blessings, health, love, laughter and peace today and always!
Here are what some of the other lovely bloggers at Parenting Without A Parachute are thankful for this holiday season:
Shari -
There are so many things that I am thankful for this holiday season. Everyday I count my blessings, as my life is good, happy, and drama free. My list is quite long so here are the top things that I am thankful for:
? Food on the table and a cozy, warm house.
? Friends and family that love, respect, and accept me for who I am.
? My husband who is wonderful everyday and doesn?t even know it.
? My son who is perfect and makes me laugh and my heart swell.
Elizabeth -
Sitting down at our Thanksgiving table, I have an overwhelming appreciation for those around me. As I take in the sight of the food and drink, a feast before our eyes, I realize many more people helped us prepare this meal. The farmers who grew the sweet potatoes, pumpkins and green beans. The vineyard owner who nurtured the grape which made the wine we are drinking. The silverware itself has seen over 50 turkeys! I encourage you to take in each savory bite today and heartily contribute to the conversation of the table. Blessings upon you and your family.
Jess? -
To say I am ?thankful? for what has happened over the past year seems like it would be a dramatic understatement, but for lack of a better word, I?ll use it.
I am thankful to have this adorable, growing baby bump, to have a home which I may or may not have the energy to vacuum, to have a husband who is always willing to step in and help when I am lacking the energy and most of all to have a support system of family friends standing tall for us every step of the way.
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Source: http://www.chicagonow.com/parenting-without-a-parachute/2012/11/black-friday-stay-home-be-thankful/
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Saturday, November 24, 2012
96% The House I Live In
All Critics (45) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (43) | Rotten (2)
The House I Live In is a work of journalism, not propaganda: Jarecki has done his research and leaves it to you to decide what to make of it.
If [it] takes a while to focus, it eventually becomes the conversation starter the subject desperately needs.
Jarecki takes a highly original approach to create a compelling, thought-provoking look at a highly relevant and controversial topic.
An absorbing, disturbing sit.
It's a film as profoundly sad as it is enraging and potentially galvanizing, and it's one of the most important pieces of nonfiction to hit the screen in years.
Jarecki's case is so compelling that, when he concludes by comparing the drug war to the Holocaust, the obvious charge of hyperbole doesn't quite stick.
One of the best documentaries out this year, and a must-see for Senate and Congress in America.
An angry and personal attack on America's war on drugs contends it is a grotesquely wasteful public-works scheme.
Jarecki is a stickler for sticking to his subject, or sub-subject, until it squeals like a leech victim.
Jarecki offers 100 small conclusions rather than one big one for you to take away.
This urgent and formidably smart movie - perhaps the year's most important political documentary - has opened minds and changed laws already.
Tells a complex story with troubling ease.
Persuasively argues that punitive laws against users have historically involved disproportionately targeting poor, non-white communities.
Jarecki's parade of experts and eyewitnesses is impressive, as are his arguments that race and class prejudice enter into the policing efforts of America's drug warriors.
Jarecki's conclusion is powerfully plausible
There's no confusion about Jarecki's point of view in The House I Live In- he's out to make the case that America's drug laws cause far more damage, to individuals and communities, than drug use ever has
The film deserves credit for offering a unique perspective on a relevant social issue.
The House I Live In is depressing stuff, but it sparks the fires of anger, and from that anger, possible action.
This film could serve as a potent tool for those trying to change 40 years of public policy.
A thought-provoking, compelling documentary that encourages you to look at our national drug policy in a broader context.
Statistics abound in this thorough analysis of the declared war [on drugs] that, like Vietnam, we are losing.
A devastating dispatch from the front lines of America's war on drugs, the film tracks the rise of the prison-industrial complex as masterfully as the filmmaker's previous work took on its older military-industrial cousin.
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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_house_i_live_in/
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Instagram sets single-day record for photo shares
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We?ve scoured the major retailers? Black Friday deals and found the most outstanding values for every member of the family. A 32-inch scree... Read more
4 hrs.
Oh, Thankgiving. Turkey, mashed potatoes, yam, pumpkin pie, family, friends, football and feasts across the country.
It all adds up to bickering between family members, Friday trips to the gym and ... the biggest day in Instagram history?
According to the popular photo-sharing service's blog, Thursday saw more photo uploads in a single day than ever before.
Instagram users combined to upload over 10 million photos on Thanksgiving including a record rate of 226 photos per second at 12:40 p.m., PST.
It more than doubled the total uploaded using the service, which was officially aquired by Menlo Park-based Facebook in September.
More from?NBCBayArea.com.
Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/instagram-sets-single-day-record-photo-shares-1C7226148
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