WebProNews

Author: Lacy Langley

  • Tim Robbins in Prison, Teaching Acting

    Tim Robbins is in prison, but don’t worry, he’s not walking in the footsteps of his infamous Shawshank Redemption character. This time, he is working with the group he founded in 1981 and funds himself, called the Actor’s Gang. He teaches acting to prison inmates as a way to help rehabilitate them. CBS News’ Serena Altschul joined him in a Norca, California medium security prison to see what it’s all about. See the interview here!

    When asked how he would respond to those who say prison isn’t about having a good time, he stated, “It’s not a good time. It’s tough work they’re doing. It’s physically demanding, it requires discipline. We want full commitment from them. What we’re asking them to do they haven’t been asked to do before. It takes a lot of courage. They’re actually putting on makeup and putting on costumes. It creates this place, particularly important in prison, where people can step outside of what’s expected of them and try to explore new emotions, create new realities, create new truths for themselves.”

    Tim Robbins’ first experience of prison was playing Andy Dufresne in the 1994 film “The Shawshank Redemption.”
    “I spent some time in solitary, to prepare for ‘Shawshank.’ I asked to be locked up. It gives you a good idea of what the isolation is, and what the loneliness of it is.”

    “I never thought I’d be happy to tell another man I put makeup on!” said prisoner Yousef, who told Altschul preparing for a performance was liberating.”You can always say ‘ We’re acting, that’s not really me.’ But the truth is, this is us. We’re not all bad people.”

    “A lot of people are afraid to show they could be sad, or they could be happy,” said another inmate, Yoshi. “They gotta have this mad mug all the time.”

    Robbins recalled one inmate telling him, “I didn’t realize ’til I took this class that I’ve been wearing a mask on the yard for the last eight years.”

    image via IMDb

  • Hyao Miyazaki: Celebrated Filmaker Retires, Ends Era

    Celebrated manga artist and Anime icon Hyao Miyazaki announced his retirement Saturday, just after the release of his last film, “The Wind Rises”. Koji Hoshino, the head of Mr. Miyazaki’s famed Studio Ghibli, announced the news Sunday at the Venice Film Festival, where “The Wind Rises” received its international premiere and is screening in competition, Variety reported. Mr. Miyazaki is scheduled to give a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.The announced retirement of 72-year-old Miyazaki led to mass mourning in social media circles far and wide.

    Miyazaki is the imagination behind many amazing (and some of my favorite) films like “Howl’s Moving Castle” (top of my list), “Spirited Away“, “Ponyo“, “Princess Mononoke”, “Kiki’s Delivery Service”, “My Neighbor Totoro” and many other beautiful works, and recently, “The Secret World of Arriety” and his latest,”The Wind Rises”.

    Miyazaki began turning heads in the 1970s on such television anime series as Lupin III, Future Boy Conan, and Sherlock Hound. He directed his first feature film, Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro, in 1979. He then adapted the beginning of his Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind manga into an anime film in 1984, before he and fellow director Isao Takahata founded Studio Ghibli.

    Image via twitter

  • Nancy Pelosi Won’t Be Speaker Again

    Nancy Pelosi Won’t Be Speaker Again

    House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi has announced that she will not be Speaker of the House again. However the 73-year-old says she will run again for her seat.In an interview published Friday in the National Journal, an inside-Washington magazine, Pelosi was asked whether she wishes to return to the top job. Pelosi said she did not, pointing out that she has held the post.

    “No, that’s not my thing. I did that,” Pelosi said.

    However, Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill discounted Pelosi’s comments, saying they’re in line with her stock response when she’s asked about running for leadership positions. Hammill said Friday that she’s working hard to win back the majority for Democrats and that, if the effort is successful, her colleagues would elect their speaker.

    “She was simply saying she doesn’t ‘wish’ for things,” Hammill said.

    Pelosi became the first woman to ever be Speaker of the House in 2007, when democrats won the majority. She lost it to current speaker John Boehner in 2011 in the landslide 2010 midterm elections when Republicans gained control of the House. During the interview, Pelosi was asked if Congress, after the long recess was starting to feel “repetitive”. She replied,

    “Oh, it’s Groundhog Day Central. There’s no question about that. It’s not productive. It’s a waste of the taxpayers’ dollar. It’s a waste of our time. And it’s time that’s not working [for] the American people. [The Republicans’] agenda is nothing, and their timetable is never. But having said that, hopefully there are some among them that realize we have a responsibility to govern.”

    She was then asked if she thought it was because of the 20 or so Republicans dominating conversations from the right, she responded,

    “I think it’s more than 20. Here’s what I have to say to my Republican friends out there: Take back your party. This isn’t the Grand Old Party that used to have such great leadership. The name “Republican” in some ways has been hijacked by obstructionists. They are nowhere on the spectrum of trying to get the job done, and they claim the name without bringing to it the greatness, the leadership of the past.”

    The interviewer continued by asking if the disjointed Repulican party gave her some leverage when it came to them needing votes, she said,

    “I only have leverage if the other side is willing to govern. If they are willing to govern, we can find compromise. Not if they are just going to hold their ideological position and say, ‘We can be irresponsible because the Democrats are going to be responsible.’ “

    Read the interview in it’s entirety at The National Journal!

  • Matt Damon: Not Robin, but Will Be in Upcoming Films

    I hate to rock the 90’s dreamboat, but Matt Damon will NOT be playing Robin, despite speculation that ran amuck after the big Affleck announcement that he will indeed be the next to don the mask.

    Matt Damon told The Times of India he thought Affleck—with whom he stared with in Good Will Hunting—would be “great” and “terrific” in the role of a the Dark Knight, Damon also quashed any rumor that he’d play his sidekick. “It’s safe to say I won’t be Robin,” he said. “I am a little older than Ben. I never saw Robin as older than Batman.”

    We will be seeing him on the big screen soon, however. Since his star role in “Elysium”, he has recently announced that he will make an appearance in the Christopher Nolan film “Interstellar”. There isn’t much detail released yet about “Interstellar”, but we do know that Damon is apparently to join the filming for two weeks in Iceland. Damon joins Anne Hathaway, Matthew McConaughey, Jessica Chastain, Topher Grace, Wes Bentley, Mackenzie Foy and Michael Caine amongst others in the film. The film revolves around a group of explorers making use of a wormhole.

    Damon also finally gets his to sharpen his directorial chops with “A Foreigner”. “A Foreigner” is said to be an adaptation of David Grans’ 2011 New Yorker article “A Murder Foretold”. It will be written by “Argo” writer Chris Terrio. The film is based on a true story about a man who becomes a victim of violence in Guatemala. In the past, Damon has considered the idea of being a director before of films like “Promised Land”, which he later handed off to “Milk” director Gus Van Sant.

    He is also involved in two other films, “The Zero Theorem” and “The Monuments Men”, both due later this year.

    Image via IMDb

  • Third SEAL Team 6 Member: Previous Claim “B.S.”

    Yet another version of the story of the Osama bin Laden raid that ended in the Al Qadea leaders death. A third member of the elite special forces unit that raided bin Laden’s Pakistan compound has come forward to tell his story.The previous account, given by a Navy SEAL identified as The Shooter in Esquire magazine, claimed he had confronted Bin Laden in the terror chief’s bedroom and shot him twice in the forehead when he saw him reach for a gun.

    However the third member of the SEAL Team 6 has stated that he came face to face with bin Laden in his final moments as well. He claims the details of Esquire’s original scoop “are B.S.”.

    The Shooter told Esquire that on the fateful night he had confronted Bin Laden in the terror chief’s bedroom and shot him twice in the forehead when he saw him reach for a gun, which completely contradicted the account given by Matt Bissonnette, author of the best seller No Easy Day, written under the pen name Mark Owen.

    The third member to come forward disagrees with Bissonnette in the following points: The Shooter told Esquire that what happened next was that Bin Laden peered through his bedroom door and the point man shot at and either missed or lightly wounded him, before peeling off to tackle two women nearby. The Shooter then claims he then ran alone into the room where he found Bin Laden hiding behind one of his wives, perhaps using her as a human shield. Seeing a gun ‘within reach’ he shot him twice in the head.

    CNN Security Analyst Peter Bergen reports that what actually happened, according to his source, known as “the point man” is that the point man shot and gravely wounded Bin Laden.The point man then leapt on the two nearby women – to absorb any explosion in case they were wearing suicide vests as two more SEALs went into Bin Laden’s bedroom and, seeing he was mortally wounded, finished him off.

    The source who spoke to Bergen told him there was no way The Shooter could have seen a gun in Bin Laden’s possession because the guns found in the room were only discovered on a high shelf after a thorough search. The source also told CNN that The Shooter was actually sacked from the SEAL unit in question after bragging about his role in the raid in bars.

    However, Esquire says it stands by it’s story, which is closet to the official account given after the raid. In a statement release by Esquire’s editor-in-chief David Granger, he states It reads:

    “Esquire and Phil Bronstein, the veteran journalist and writer of the story, object to CNN’s report in the strongest possible terms.By stark contrast with Bronstein’s thoroughgoing 15,000 word report, the CNN story constitutes a mere act of assertion.As far as can be gleaned from the report, it is based on the opinion of one current SEAL who was not on the bin Laden mission and who therefore could not have first-hand knowledge of it. It is little more than gossip.Esquire’s story remains the most thoroughly reported account of the raid and of the death of Osama bin Laden.”

    Image via wikipedia

  • Diana Nyad: 64-year-old Swimming Cuba to Florida

    Diana Nyad, the 64-year-old woman who has attempted to swim from Cuba to Florida, which is 103 miles, for 35 years may finally reach her goal in 3 days. This is the fifth attempt for Nyad, who says it will also be her last. She was 20 hours into the swim on Sunday morning when her blog quoted her handler Bonnie Stoll as saying, “This is the first time we’ve ever reached international waters without a crisis.”

    If successful, she would become the first person ever to swim the 103 miles without a wet-suit, flippers or shark cage. Previous attempts were busted by dehydration, strong currents and excruciating jelly fish stings to her tongue. This time she is wearing a special prosthetic mask to prevent jellyfish stings. “It’s a two-edged sword for me. It’s cumbersome, it’s difficult to swim with, but it doesn’t matter. I am safe. There’s no other way.” she said of the mask.

    She told CBS News‘ Elaine Quijano, “I just hadn’t reached the end. I hadn’t reached the wall where there’s nothing more to give. If I don’t make it, I will this time be able to look myself in the mirror and say, ‘There’s nothing more.’”

    She entered the water at 8:59 am on Saturday morning, and on Sunday morning was still going strong.”She is doing remarkably well in that jellyfish suit,”John Berry, the operations chief told the blog. “And she is going at her expected pace in it, which is 47 strokes per minute.” She is being followed by a 35-member crew on two sail boats, who monitor her health and update her social media accounts and blog.

    In 1997, 22-year-old endurance swimmer Susie Maroney completed the swim from within a shark cage. However, many other swimmers have attempted without a shark cage, but have been turned back. In addition to protection from sharks, the cage provides a barrier from waves and other weather hazards.

    Nyad, a Key West resident, feels a bond with Cubans and hopes her efforts can help mend the damaged relationship between the U.S. and Cuba.

  • Nelson Mandela Finally Released

    Well, South African President Nelson Mandela has finally been released to go home early on Sunday morning. He has been in the Pretoria hospital for 85 days for a recurrent lung infection that reportedly stems from a tuberculosis infection he fought whie serving a 27-year sentence for anti-apartheid actions.

    The office of the current South African President Jacob Zuma released a statement confirming that he would be released. The statement also said that the country’s first Black President would return to his home on the outskirts of Johannesburg, which has been altered to care for him there.

    “[Mandela’s] team of doctors are convinced that he will receive the same level of intensive care at his Houghton home that he received in Pretoria,” the statement read in part. “His home has been reconfigured to allow him to receive intensive care there. The health care personnel providing care at his home are the very same who provided care to him in hospital. If there are health conditions that warrant another admission to hospital in future, this will be done.”

    The President had previously urged his country to accept the fact that the man known as “Madiba”, meaning Father, was old and frail and urged them to pray for him. People around the world joined in those efforts as well sending well-wishes and tributes to show respect for the man who’s people consider him the father of their country.

    Mandela was first admitted to the Pretoria hospital on June 8th, and passed his 95th birthday there on July 18th. He was not well enough to receive President Obama When he visited earlier this summer. Zuma’s office urged citizens to allow the former President, who served a single five year presidential term after the world petitioned for his prison release, the space and privacy he needs to fully recover.

    Image via Wikipedia

  • Joe Arpaio, Arizona Sheriff to Await Delayed Ruling

    U.S. District Judge Murray Snow delayed a ruling in the racial profiling case against Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s office Friday as both sides remain at odds over key remedies to ensure the agency adheres to constitutional requirements. Snow found in May that the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office singled out Latinos and deputies unreasonably prolonged detentions, marking the first finding by a court that the agency covering Arizona’s most populous county engages in racial profiling.

    In June, the case was delayed to give the two parties more time to reach and agreement, though Friday it became apparent that neither side was ready to give in. “I presume that you’re now leaving it up to me to take your outline and create an order, and that’s what I intend to do,” Snow told attorneys. He said he would issue a final order shortly after the Sept. 18th deadline for both sides to turn in any additional briefs.

    The case arose after a small group of Latinos sued the sheriff’s office, claiming that their constitutional rights had been violated. They claim that they were detained by the agency simply because of their race.

    There are a couple of key points they are hung up on. One requires deputies to note to dispatchers why they have stopped a vehicle before they make contact with the driver. Maricopa County Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan told the judge it would be burdensome and risky since “traffic stops are one of the most dangerous things that deputies do.”

    However, Cecillia Wang, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who is representing the plaintiffs, stated, “It takes less than a second to say, `I’m pulling this car over because it was speeding.’”. She added that such a requirement is needed “given the record … of racial profiling of Latinos in this county.”

    Another key point that neither side will give on is the appointment of a monitor to oversee the agency’s adherence to the judge’s eventual order. Arpaio claims that allowing a monitor means every policy decision would have to be cleared through the monitor and would undermine his authority.”Obviously, my client opposes the appointment of any monitor,” Tim Casey, one of Arpaio’s lawyers, told the judge.

    Casey said in addition to undermining the authority of the sheriff, the agency is concerned about how much power the monitor would hold, and how exposed the monitor would be to sensitive information, including ongoing investigations and search warrants. “Basically, the concern is one of safety,” Casey said. “The more people who know, the greater the risk of being burned.”

    Despite the objections, Snow indicated that a monitor would be appointed and would have significant authority.
    “It will be the monitor’s obligation to determine when the MCSO is in full compliance,” the judge said.

    Arpaio’s office also disagrees the plaintiffs’ proposal to create an advisory board aimed at improving the department’s relationship with the Latino community. Casey argued that the Sheriff’s Office already has a community outreach liaison, and that “the sheriff recognizes there needs to be some improvement.There’s a positive effect if my client goes to the Latino community voluntarily,” he said, adding that if it appeared forced it would be “throwing fuel on the fire.”

    While the judge’s May ruling doesn’t prohibit Arpaio from enforcing the state’s immigration laws, it does limit what the sheriff can do on his patrols, some of them in heavily latino-concentrated areas. The restrictions focus on using race as a factor in deciding whether to stop a vehicle with a Latino occupant and on detaining Latino passengers only on the suspicion that they’re in the country illegally.

    Image via Twitter

  • DragonCon 2013: Famous Nerds Tweet

    Dragon Con is upon us again! What is DragonCon? Well, the according to the website, it is the “largest multimedia, popular culture convention focusing of science fiction/fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music and film in the universe!” It’s taking place in Atlanta at the Atlanta Convention Center. I have really been enjoying all the great pictures out there, but even better are the tweets! Here is what Dragon Con looks like through the eye of the famous bespectacled beholder:

    image via dragoncon.org

  • Seamus Heaney Death Mourned Across the World

    Let us take a break from Miley and the Twerking and remember that life has more to offer than endless garbage. The beloved poet and Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney died yesterday at the age of 74, in Dublin. The literary world is grieving at the sudden and surprising loss of an incredible poet who was said to have a gentle wit and a quiet spirit. Seamus Heaney was a teacher before he began his career in poetry and from there, he went on to win the Nobel prize for literature in 1995.

    Irish President Micheal D. Higgins called the death of Heaney “an enormous loss”. Former US President Bill Clinton said “his uniquely Irish gift for language made him our finest poet of the rhythms of ordinary lives and a powerful voice for peace”. Irish movie star Liam Neeson told the BBC: “With Seamus Heaney’s passing, Ireland, and Northern Ireland especially, has lost a part of its artistic soul.” He then added, “He crafted, through his poetry, who we are as a species and the living soil that we toiled in. By doing so, he defined our place in the universe. May he rest in peace”.

    His second and last Twitter post is interesting in it’s subject matter, and perhaps it’s a metaphor for something else, but still eerie in it’s nature.

    His poems inspired people from all classes from all over the world. Take a moment and look up some of his poems here and savor every lovely word.

    Image via Narrative Magazine

  • Foie Gras: Ban Is Upheld, For Now

    Foie Gras: Ban Is Upheld, For Now

    Foie Gras (pronounced FWAH GRAH and meaning “fat liver” in frech) might continue to be hard to find in California. The federal court upheld a statewide ban on the sale of the delicacy made from the livers of force-fed duck or goose in a ruling handed down Friday.The three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found the ban was plain in meaning and was not in violation of the Constitution.

    Apparently, the Assn. des Eleveurs de Canards et d’Oies du Quebec, HVFG and Hot’s Restaurant Group said the ban could be interpreted to cover all products from force-fed ducks, including meat and jackets made from down. It was also challenged by out-of-state foie gras producers and California restaurants, who claimed the ban was too vague and regulated interstate commerce. However, the court seemed to disagree.

    Not everyone is upset about the ban. Many individuals and groups have worked for years to stop the force-feeding of ducks. Check out the facebook page for United for Animals Foie Gras Fight here
    And this PETA article is pretty frightening.
    Twitter is also lit up with the isssue:

    Image via wikipedia

  • Walking Shark: Great for Science, Great for Conservation

    Science freaked out the laymen a couple of days ago when a new shark species was discovered in Indonesia. Oh yeah, and also…it walks. The new species, called Hemiscyllium halmahera, is a type of epaulette shark described in the journal Aqua: the International Journal of Ichthyology. The shark lives off the coral reefs along the coast of Halmahera, a remote Indonesian island.

    Incredibly, this is not the first time a walking shark has been observed. This is the third known species of walking shark known to have appeared. The ReefQuest Center for Shark Research tried to explain in a statement just how this “walking” could be:


    “The wriggling gait of the Epaulette Shark has been studied as a model of the probable limb movements used by the first tetrapods (four-footed vertebrates) to clamber from the sea onto land. This research provides evidence supporting the evolutionary theory that the paired limb movements necessary for terrestrial locomotion predate the first amphibians.”

    Epaulette sharks, so named for the dramatic badge-like spot behind the pectoral fin, apparently use their fins to help navigate the uneven environment of a coral reef. Check it out:

    The finding of the new Epaulette shark is not only an amazing discovery for science, but could be a huge boon to conservation efforts fronted by a group called Conservation International. Conservation International, whose scientists discovered the shark along with colleagues from the Western Australian Museum, added that it happened to come at a time when Indonesia was increasing its efforts to protect shark and ray species.Conservation International has been trying to turn the tide on the export of shark products from Indonesia, such as dried shark fins and shark meat.

    Ketut Sarjana Putra, Indonesia country director for the group, said the Hemiscyllium halmahera shark could “serve as an excellent ambassador to call public attention to the fact that most sharks are harmless to humans and are worthy of our conservation attention”.

    Image courtesy of Channel News Asia

  • Bay Bridge Troll: The Fate of the Icon

    As the Bay Bridge gets ready for some remodeling and replacing of some sections, people all over the world wonder what will happen to the whimsical troll that, from his perch, single-handedly keeps the bridge from collapsing? Will he (guessing on the gender, here) be thrown into the same scrap heap as his illustrious home?

    Absolutely not, says Bay Bridge Toll Oversight Commitee Spokesman John Goodwin. The 18-inch steel troll, sculpted by Bill Roan and placed by iron workers after the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, has his own Facebook page and loyal contingent in the Bay area. It even has a set of replicas that will be on display at the Oakland Museum of California.

    Goodwin’s bosses recommend in a whimsical white paper, “For Whom the Troll Dwells,” preserving the troll in perpetuity, carefully removing the little creature during the upcoming demolition of the 1936 bridge and moving him to a troll retirement home. Maybe to have woodland creatures and unruly children hand-fed to them every day at 4pm before bed?

    The community is split on the question of who should keep billy goats from crossing the new span. Should the old troll continue to guard it or should a shiny new one take his place? Some folks say that since there hasn’t been an earthquake related shutdown since the troll surreptitiously appeared, that he should stay on duty. Others, like Brian Maroney, a veteran Caltrans engineer, would like him on the new span. “It’s up to the community, but personally, I’d like to see the existing troll moved to the top of the tower on the new bridge.”

    Some say that an old troll should never be placed on a new bridge. “It has to be a new troll with no allegiance to the old bridge,” said one high-ranking bridge official who declined to be identified for obvious reasons. It’s a sensitive subject, after all.

    There are many myths and mysterious accounts floating around, but according to the troll’s Facebook page,The troll first came to the public’s attention on January 15, 1990 when the San Francisco Chronicle ran a story about the small figure of a troll complete with a spud wrench that had been welded to the iron below the road on the north side of the bridge. The article quotes official spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, Greg Bayol, as saying, “If we were asked, we would have said ‘no,’ I’m sure.” But the iron workers didn’t ask, so the state is stuck with the troll.

    The trolls next home hasn’t been decided just yet, but whether in a museum or on the new Eastern span, under no circumstances will it end up rotting away in the recycle pit with the rest of the metal that makes up the old span, promised Amy Worth, Metropolitan Transportation Commission Chairwoman and Orinda Mayor. She said, “That’s not gonna happen.” A collective sigh amongst the superstitious Bay area villagers filled the air.

    image via wikipedia

  • Alaska Earthquake Hits Small Towns

    A magnitude 7.0 earthquake shook the small towns of the Aleutian Islands on Friday.The earthquake occured in a seismically active region, and produced aftershocks of up to 5.2 magnitude. Even though the area is known to have earthquakes now and then, it’s something you never get used to. The shaking lasted about one minute.

    The Christian Science Monitor reports that Kathleen Nevzoroff was sitting at her computer at 8:25am when the tiny village of Adak, was shaken. “I ran to my doors and opened them”, she said, “and my chimes were all ringing.”

    The epicenter was located 67 miles to the southwest of Adak, about 1,200 miles southwest of Anchorage. The earthquake didn’t trigger a tsunami warning, but the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center is monitoring the situation continually for tsunamis triggered by landslides that can occure on land or under water. The quake occurred offshore where plates of the Earth’s crust grind and dive. By contrast, the San Andreas, is a strike-slip fault. Quakes along strike-slip faults tend to move horizontally.

    “I thought it was my dog running up the stairs,” Debra Sharrah said. She was getting ready for work, upstairs in her two-story townhome, “It kept making noise and then it got louder. So then all of a sudden the rumbling started. Nothing fell off my walls, and the wine glasses didn’t go out of the hutch or anything.” The only thing knocked over in her house was a stool.

    The quake affected Adak, which has a population of 320, and an even smaller nearby community of 64, Atka. Atka residents were displaced during the World War II, relocating to Southeast Alaska so the U.S. government could demolish the village to prevent the Japanese from seizing it as they had other Aleutian communities. After the war, the U.S. Navy rebuilt the community and residents returned. Today, the community is a cluster of utilitarian buildings scattered over rolling hills that turn beautiful emerald green in warmer months.

    Adak, 110 miles to the west, had been home to U.S. military installations that allowed forces to wage a successful offense against the Japanese after they seized the Aleutian Islands of Kiska and Attu. After the war, Adak was transformed into a Naval air station that served as a submarine surveillance center during the Cold War. Later, the facilities were acquired by the Aleut Corp. — a regional native corporation — in a federal land-transfer agreement. It became a city in 2001 and today retains its military appearance.

    Image via Wikipedia

  • Tylenol Warnings Serve as Grave Reminder

    Tylenol Warnings Serve as Grave Reminder

    Very soon the Tylenol products that we know as the safest pain reliever available and use without fear for every little ache will carry bright red warning labels on the lid. These warnings are a product of numerous lawsuits and pressure by the federal government.The warnings will start in October on Extra Strength Tylenol and become widespread on other Tylenol products in the following months.

    The warnings are intended to make clear the possible sudden liver failure or even death that can be caused by taking too much Tylenol in a day. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that overdoses of Acetaminophen send between 50,000 to 80,000 people to the emergency room each year and claim the lives of around 500. So what is the factor that turns the safest pain reliever into a killer? Humans. That’s right.

    Apparently, we all assume we need the highest dose available to begin with. Many stores don’t even carry Regular Strength Tylenol on their shelves anymore. I’m not sure I have ever seen a regular strength bottle in anyone’s medicine cabinet. Extra Strength has 1,000mg of Acetaminophen, compared to 650 mg in the Regular Strength dose. The maximum safe dosage is 4,000mg per day

    Here’s the danger: You just had surgery, so you take your Vicodin or Percocet, which contain 2600mg daily of Acetaminophen in the two pills every six hours . You still feel pain, so You think you could just add Extra Strength Tylenol to the regimen, for another 3,000mg. Now, you also have a cold, or trouble sleeping, so you take Nyquil to sleep. You’re a tough guy and don’t need to read labels, so you don’t realize that Nyquil also contains 650mg of Acetaminophen. A regular dose. After a few days on this 6,250mg regimen, liver failure is a real risk.

    However, there are still cases where, researchers say, the patients with liver failure took the recommended dose. They say it could be genetic predisposition, or it could be a human predisposition to lie for money. My bet is, it’s the second, but READ LABELS, PEOPLE! And be careful about the dose you take.

    Image via Wikipedia

  • Twitter Buzzes with Labor Day Travel Ideas

    Twitter Buzzes with Labor Day Travel Ideas

    The long weekend beckons and most people are off work, so if you can swing it, do it! It’s time to savor the last sweet taste of Summer. It’s like scooping the sugar out of the bottom of a really good glass of iced tea with your finger…
    If you’re from the south, you know what I’m talking about.

  • Montana Judge: Previous Gaffes Call for Dismissal

    The Montana Judge of Yellowstone County, G. Todd Baugh, that is currently under fire for assigning a 30-day sentence for a teacher who raped a student, leading to her suicide, apparently has a track record. His reasoning for the mild punishment is reported to be 1) The girl looked older than her chronological age. 2) He felt she had just as much control over the situation as the teacher.

    Ok, in fairness, we all knew that girl in High School who dressed provocatively and demanded attention, whether it was from boys her age or cute teachers. But, come on! That girl we knew didn’t have control over her life at all, right? She definitely wouldn’t be able to back out in that kind of situation. Besides that, teenage girls, by and large, don’t have many rational thoughts during any given day.

    This begs the question: So, why is this guy still on the bench? In July(yeah, last month), he sentenced a 55-year-old woman to a 3-year suspended sentence on her 13th drunk driving charge! Meaning: No jail time! Seriously? The most deplorabe thing about this case are the words he lashed her with from the bench. “If you drink and drive and kill someone, you will spend some real time in prison”. If I lived in that town, I would throw a fit. Even the likes of Wil Wheaton know….

    What’s baffling is that Baugh has regularly handed down pretty harsh (and fair) sentences to sex offenders over the years. For instance, in September of 2011, he handed down a 100-year sentence to a 26-year old man for raping an 11-year-old boy after luring him to an empty irrigation ditch from a video store.

    In 2012, he sentenced a 23-year-old man to 56 years in prison for possesion of child pornography including images of children under age 12. The minimum state mandated sentence is 25 years for that offense. The Billings Gazzette reported that the same man admitted to raping a 13-year-old girl for which Baugh gave him another 10 years.

    The judge has issued an apology and offered to explain his comments a little further, but that seems like one mess you can’t back-peddle out of easily.

    So, what gives, Judge? Maybe it’s time you started shopping for that Lake house and buying a new set of clubs.

  • “I Have a Dream” Turns 50

    “I Have a Dream” Turns 50

    The nation’s first black president spoke today in honor of the man who started it all, Martin Luther King. Barak Obama lead the massive crowd and several civil rights leaders that gathered in the rain by the reflecting pool in Washington D.C. in a ceremony honoring the man who started the movement 50 years ago today.

    The president spoke just a little after 3 p.m., the same time as King delivered the captivating speech that would go on the immortalize the hopes and dreams of an entire people, to crowd of over 250,000 african-american men in what was originally called The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

    The speech came at a pivotal moment in history that is hard to imagine. Good people were turned down for jobs, denied basic freedoms, and oppressed for the simple reason that their skin was dark. Everyday freedoms like marrying who you love, eating in a restaurant, or even using the restroom at a public facility were near unthinkable. So, does the president think we have come a long way? Does he think we have lived up the dreams that a man and his people dreamed so long ago?

    In an interview with Tom Joyner on Tuesday, Obama declared that Martin Luther King, Jr. would be “amazed in many ways” at the progress that we have been able to obtain. He cited such progress as thousands of african-american elected officials, countless african-american CEOs and heads of major corporations in addition to equal rights and an accessible judicial system.

    However, he was quick to point out that the astounding unemployment rate among african-americans, as well as the nations economic slump shows that we still have work to do.

    Many celebrities showed up to throw in their two cents, as they feel obligated to do at any major public event. Oprah Winfrey stated that the infamous speech forced the nation to “wake up, look at itself, and eventually change”.

    Jamie Fox made a surprisingly touching and on-point speech in which he recalled a meeting with Harry Belafonte,
    “I said (to my daughter), ‘Listen, if you want to get inspired, come listen to this man speak.’ When I sat with Mr. Belafonte, he asked my daughter, ‘How old are you?’ and my daughter said, ’19’. And I said, ‘Mr. Belafonte, what were you doing at 19?’ and he said, “I was coming home from World War Two and when I got back to America I wasn’t allowed to vote… I realised I had more work to do, so myself, Al (Sharpton), Jesse (Jackson) and Martin (Luther King), we marched.”

    And with that, shamed the nation’s entire population of college students.
    Image via Twitter

  • Wolf Attack: Rare Attack Shocks Minnesota Campers

    This will make you think twice before casually setting up a paper-thin shelter in the wild. A 16 year-old boy in Minnesota, Noah Graham, was severely bitten on the back of his head while chatting with his girlfriend last weekend. He has an 11 centimeter wide gash and 17 staples to show for it, but luckily walked away with his life. The two were camping with a group of friends on Lake Winnibigoshish when the rare attack happened.

    The Department of Natural Resources is waiting on test results from a wolf that was found and killed Monday to see if it has rabies. The wolf that was found had a jaw deformity that would have prevented it from hunting and forced it to scavenge for other sources of food. Officials from the DNR believe that this is the first ever serious injury wolf attack in Minnesota. After their arrival, and along with Leech Lake Tribal Police, they set up perimeters and traps around West Winnie campground where the attack took place.

    At one point the wolf was spotted, but an official who fired his pistol at it missed. Later, the wolf was caught by a perimeter trap. DNA tests performed during the necropsy will determine whether it was the same wolf that attacked Graham. According to The Department of Natural Resources, there have been two fatal wolf attacks in the last ten years. One was in northern Canada and the other in Alaska.

    The Bemidji Pioneer reports that his other friends “slept through” the blood-curdling screaming and kicking it took to get the wolf detached from his head and as for his girlfriend, “She ran and got in her jeep right away.” Later he added, to our own collective thoughts, “I won’t be sleeping outside anytime soon.”

    Image via Bemidji Pioneer