December 2009 Blog Posts (77)

From the AllHumanity Blog: Happy New Year!

WHAT IS THE ALLHUMANITY GROUP?

The AllHumanity Group is an international humanitarian organization uniquely positioned to deliver critical humanitarian aid through a combination of state-of-the-art internet television and in-country…

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Added by Eric K. Noji, M.D. on December 31, 2009 at 12:52pm — No Comments

A 2-for-1 Giving Opportunity from INSTEDD (Innovative Support to Emergencies Diseases and Disasters)

Colleagues,

Please see message I am forwarding to you below from MedTech-IQ member, Eric Rasmussen, CEO, InSTEDD. InSTEDD (Innovative Support to Emergencies Diseases and Disasters) is a non-profit created three years ago to fight global health threats and natural disasters in remote and dangerous places founded by Dr. Larry Brilliant, former director of Google's philanthropic arm ... Google.org.

CC

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| December… Continue

Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on December 31, 2009 at 7:30am — No Comments

Healthcare Reform Misconception - Costs are rising because of the avarice and greed or just unregulated “bad guys

Drug and technology companies, doctors, hospitals, malpractice lawyers and third-party payers/insurers deserve some approbation and bear some responsibility at the margin, but these are not the major reasons why costs are rising. But it seems that politicians, the media and so many others seem to believe what’s convenient rather than what is accurate.

The real culprits are: 1) the poor coordination of care of those with chronic illness resulting in excess visits to specialists,… Continue

Added by Stephen C Schimpff on December 29, 2009 at 11:05am — No Comments

Avatar tops Christmas box office in US and Canada

The estimated $278m (174m) in weekend ticket sales broke the previous record of $253m (158m) set in July 2008, the weekend The Dark Knight was released.

Sci-fi epic Avatar took $75m (47m) in its second weekend, according to early studio estimates.

Sherlock Holmes, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel and It's Complicated all enjoyed strong debuts.

In its… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 28, 2009 at 7:54pm — No Comments

Time to Pick a Drug Plan

Former supermodel Tyra Banks said on Monday she is ending her Emmy-award winning TV daytime talk show in the spring of 2010.

Banks, 36, said in a posting on her official web site that the current fifth season of "The Tyra Show" on the CW network, would be the last.

"This will be the last season of 'The Tyra Show'," Banks said. "I have been loving having… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 28, 2009 at 3:40pm — No Comments

Time to Pick a Drug Plan

As the year comes to a close, so does the open-enrollment period for Medicare prescription-drug plans.

The deadline to make changes to Medicare drug plans is Dec. 31, except for people who qualify for a special enrollment period like those in a low-income subsidy program.

Generally, there are two types of drug plans to choose from: a stand-alone prescription-drug plan if you… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 28, 2009 at 10:45am — No Comments

U.S. Flights Face Delays Due to Storms, More Security

Christmas weekend air traffic is experiencing delays of 15 to 90 minutes, some major U.S. airlines and the government said, due to far-flung winter storms and an alleged terrorist attack on a trans-Atlantic flight.

Delta Air Lines Inc. and UAL Corp.’s United Airlines are waiving some flight-change fees for passengers in areas affected by bad weather hitting the U.S. Midwest and… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 27, 2009 at 6:52pm — No Comments

Mir Hossein Mousavi's nephew 'killed' in Tehran clashes

At least eight Iranian protesters were reported to have been shot dead in Tehran today — including a nephew of the opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi — during the fiercest protests in the capital since the immediate aftermath of June’s hotly disputed presidential election.

The shootings mean that the confrontation between the so-called Green movement and the regime has… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 27, 2009 at 4:21pm — No Comments

Bomb Suspect's Teacher, Family Dismayed, Shocked

A Nigerian man who tried and failed to blow up a plane over Detroit ''sneaked'' into his native country the day before his botched Christmas Day attempt, leaving his father shocked and regretful, Nigeria's information minister said Sunday.

Information Minister Dora Akunyili told reporters Sunday that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab passed through Nigeria for only one day before… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 27, 2009 at 1:36pm — No Comments

Ivana Trump `kicked off plane after four-letter outburst at children`

Ivana Trump has been kicked off an aeroplane after allegedly screaming obscenities at children.

Police physically escorted the 60-year-old ex-wife of billionaire Donald Trump off the aircraft after being alerted to the foul-mouthed outburst by the pilot.

It is claimed the four-times married socialite, on the New York-bound Delta Airlines flight at Palm Beach… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 27, 2009 at 11:13am — No Comments

Singer-Songwriter Vic Chesnutt Dies at 45

Vic Chesnutt, the Georgia-based singer-songwriter known for his darkly comic songs, died yesterday in Athens, Georgia, after spending several days in a coma caused by an overdose of muscle relaxers. Chesnutt, who was confined to a wheelchair after a car crash at age 18, was discovered in the late 1980s by R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe, who produced his first two albums, Little and West of… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 26, 2009 at 7:42pm — No Comments

Welcome to CDC Chatter.net! A Blog to Discuss Issues at CDC

Welcome to CDC Chatter.net!

ABOUT CDCChatter.net

Welcome to CDCChatter.net, an unofficial blog for employees of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), external partners and others who are interested in CDC. This blog was established for CDC employees and others to post information, express opinions,… Continue

Added by Eric K. Noji, M.D. on December 26, 2009 at 7:00pm — No Comments

Dutch Passenger Hurls Into Action to Stop Alleged Terrorist on Plane

A Dutch airline passenger told The Post how he leapt into action when an alleged Muslim terrorist tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner packed with 300 people just moments before landing.

Chaos erupted as alleged terrorist Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, 23, tried to set off a sophisticated explosive device strapped to his body.

"Suddenly, we hear a… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 26, 2009 at 12:54pm — No Comments

NORAD Successfully Tracks Santa Claus

NORAD Sucessfully Tracks Santa Claus Last night a crew of volunteers at the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) successfully tracked Santa over the span of 31 hours as he crossed the globe at speeds up to 2,326,413 miles per hour. Considering that the speed of sound is 768 miles per hour, it is safe to say that Santa’s sleigh is fast.

Rudolph and his fellow…

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Added by bloglist on December 26, 2009 at 6:18am — No Comments

What's Open On Christmas: Store Returns, Sales

It's Christmas Day and you have that last shopping itch but unfortunately most big stores are closed today.

No fears: a handful of retailers have unlocked their doors today and plenty of stores are hosting online-only sales Christmas Day trying to get shoppers -- maybe those unhappy with their gifts -- to spend a little more this holiday season.

First the… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 25, 2009 at 6:04pm — No Comments

Boy leaves Brazil with his father

Reporting from Bogota, Colombia, and Sao Paulo, Brazil -- A 9-year-old boy who spent more than half his life as the object of an international custody battle that strained U.S.-Brazil relations was returned to his American father Thursday.

Sean Goldman was reunited with his father, David, at the U.S. Consulate in Rio de Janeiro after Brazil's Supreme Court… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 25, 2009 at 1:46pm — No Comments

Russia, Georgia Reopen Border Crossing

Russia and Georgia have agreed to reopen their major border crossing, officials said on Thursday, signaling the first thawing of ties between the two countries since they went to war last year over a separatist enclave.

The crossing, at the Upper Lars checkpoint in the Caucasus mountains, has been closed since 2006, when relations began growing tense, in part because of… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 24, 2009 at 5:25pm — No Comments

BlackBerry Outage Sparks User Revolt

The second outage in as many weeks for Research In Motion's BlackBerry e-mail service has prompted a mini-revolt among users.

The Crackberry blog, which tracks all things related to the addictive device, on Thursday was flooded with complaints from users who said RIM is losing its focus on customer service.

"One outage is bad enough, but… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 24, 2009 at 2:09pm — No Comments

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

People often ask me how many times I see a movie before reviewing it, and with rare exceptions the answer is "Just once." But a week and a half after I saw Sherlock Holmes, I found that the film had all but disappeared from my mind, and so I went back to see it a second time. I don't think it was just the usual clutter of holiday releases that caused the memory of this one to… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 23, 2009 at 5:19pm — No Comments

Michael Jackson's FBI Files Reveal Death Threats

During more than a decade of monitoring, the Federal Bureau of Investigation helped set up interviews over child-molestation allegations and investigated a possible terror attack and an alleged assassination plot against Michael Jackson, according to newly released FBI files.

Despite monitoring Jackson for more than a decade, the files don't contain any major… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 23, 2009 at 12:50pm — No Comments