The Number Of MIllionaires Is Growing In The U.S.

In what some people see as a positive development in the economy the number of millionaires in the U.S. is growing over the last several years. A millionaire is defined as a person or family who have assets in excess of 1 million dollars after you exclude the value of their primary residence. In other words, if they have more than 1 million dollars in assets after you subtract the value of their primary residence or home. In 2009 the number rose to 7.8 million. This was up from 6.7 million in 2008. The all time high in the U.S. was 9.2 million in 2007. The number of people who are considered "ultra rich" has risen too. The ultra rich are defined as individuals or families who have a net worth of over 5 million dollars after excluding the value of their primary residence. That number rose to 980,000 in 2009. This is up from 840,000 in 2008. Usually rich people are a little older as well. The average age of an individual with assets of over 1 million dollars in the U.S. is 62 years old. The Average age of the "ultra rich" is 67.

Your TV Will Soon Be 3-D

Do you remember when the Movie "Avatar" came out? It was in 3-D and it made almost 3 billion dollars at the box office (2.8 billion more precisely) and it spawned about a thousand other movies that came right after it that had the 3-D feature and pretty much stunk? Well the same type of revolution is getting set to occur with television. The 3-D tv is here already. It is expected that by the end of 2010 there will be over 3.2 million 3-D tv sets that will have been sold in the USA. By 2014 the projection is that over 90 million will be sold that year. The price of the Tv's themselves will not be so much more than an ordinary 2-D HDTV set either. Some 3-D tv sets can even be found now priced at under $1000 for a 50 inch set. The problem right now however is this. There Ain't a whole lot of good stuff to watch on tv in 3-D yet. A lot of shows on tv are reality shows. Who needs 3-D for that? Comedy shows, a lot of channels with talk shows, a lot of channels with old tv shows from the past like "The Brady Bunch" or "Gilligan's Island." This kind of content does not call for a 3-D set. It is however fantastic for sports like the Superbowl or the World Series but these events are only once a year and unless your a real sports fanatic it does not have that much of an appeal.
Another big problem with 3-D tv is that you have to buy a lot of stuff to go with your 3-D tv in order to get it to work right. Of course there are the 3-D glasses. They will run about $150 a pair. If you have a lot of people in your family that can add up quick. You might have to get a new 3-D Blu Ray player if you want to watch movies in 3-D, which of course you will want to do because you just bought a 3-D tv, thats about another $250 or so. Some of these 3-D glasses will only work with certain 3-D tv's too so there will be that to worry about. They are only now introducing the very first sets of 3-D glasses that are universal so maybe that wont be as much of a problem as originally feared. 3-D is going to be a brave new world that will require the consumer to make brave new choices. The best advice here perhaps is to proceed with caution as you go and to wait for the 3-D revolution to shake out a little more and develop before you join in.

The Postal Service is Shrinking Fast

The United States Postal Service is lobbying Congress hard to reduce its number of delivery days from the current six a week to five a week. The USPS wants to eliminate Saturday mail deliveries in order to reduce costs and cope with less revenue from the dwindling number of pieces of "Snail Mail" that the public sends out in the new age of E-mails and texting options. In the year 2000 the postal service handled a record number of pieces of mail. That year it was over 55.1 billion. In 2010 the projected number is set to be about 29.8 billion. The argument against the reduction in the weekly number of delivery days has to do with some of the things that the public receives through the mail that they cannot do without such as prescription drugs, Social Security checks, and getting their bills on time. Those in favor of the change argue that most people wont miss the reduced amounts of junk mail that may occur and that nowadays many people pay their bills online and can have their SSI checks directly transferred to their bank accounts and such. The Postal Service is expected to suffer a loss this year of over 8.5 billion dollars due to the reduced volume of mail and by reducing the delivery days to 5 instead of 6 it would go a good deal of the way towards reducing that operating loss. If Congress approves the change (which is required) the USPS will be able to cut its work force of over 600,000 employees by about 80,000.

NYPD Fighting Crime By Taking Fewer Shots

If you are a cop in the NYPD you know that there is the possibility that at some point you may have to take a shot at a suspect in your career. Over the last several years, decades even, that likelihood has become less and less likely. In 2009 the NYPD set a record for the fewest shots that it has ever fired at suspects in it's history for a twelve month period since they started keeping records of it in 1971. In 09 The NYPD fired 296 total rounds from their guns which resulted in the killing of 12 suspects. This broke their previous record low of 352 rounds in 2004.
It has not always been this way. In the past the NYPD has had to use many more rounds in order to police the city streets. Back in 1971 they fired a total of 2113 rounds and ended up killing 93 total suspects. Since 1971 the trend has definitely been downward. In 1995 they fired 1728 total rounds. In 1997 1040. In 2000 that number dropped to 504. In 2005 it spiked up a bit and rose to 616. By 2008 it had dropped back down to 364 which was just an average of 1 bullet a day.
The reason the numbers trend downward over the years may have to do with less crime on the streets but may also have to do with policy changes in the department. Back in 1971 when the NYPD fired over 2000 shots police officers were in the habit of firing "Warning Shots" at suspects which is a policy that the NYPD no longer practices.

Complete History Of NYC MTA Fare Increases

If you live in New York City you have not been able to escape the current debate about how much the MTA Bus and Subway fare is going to increase again this year. It seems like it goes up every year now and that this has become the new normal. If you might be interested in a brief recap of how many fare increases have occurred since the subway system first opened in 1904 then here is a complete list of them all:

• Oct. 27, 1904 - Subway Opens, Fare: 5 Cents


• 7/1/48 - Fare: 10 cents


• 7/25/53 - Fare: 15 cents


• 7/15/66 - Fare: 20 cents


• 1/1/70 - Fare: 30 cents


• 1/1/72 - Fare: 35 cents


• 9/1/75 - Fare: 50 cents


• 6/29/80 - Fare: 60 cents


• 7/4/81 - Fare: 75 cents


• 1/1/84 - Fare: 90 cents


• 1/1/86 - Fare: $1


• 1/1/90 - Fare: $1.15


• 1/1/92 - Fare: $1.25


• 11/12/95 - Fare: $1.50


• 7/4/98 ---30 day metro card debuts. Cost $63


• 5/4/03 - Base fare rises to $2/30 day metro card cost $70


• 2/27/05 - 30 day metro card cost $76


• 3/2/08 -- 30 day metro card cost $81


• 3/25/09 - Base fare rises from $2 to $2.50/30 day metro card now $103

Superpower Nuclear Stockpiles In Steep Decline

As far as the possibility of a nuclear war occurring goes there is good news and bad news. The bad news is it is still possible. The good news is that there are many fewer nukes that either side could throw at each other. The nuclear stockpiles are way down from their highs in the past.
The largest nuclear arsenal still belongs the the Russians. Currently they possess over 8000 warheads in their inventory. This is however way down from their high of over 40,000 in 1986. The United States is second on the list with a total of just over 5000 warheads. Similarly this figure is way down from the U.S. high of over 31,000 which was reached in 1967. After the two "Super Powers" you have 6 other countries who are known to possess nuclear capabilities. They are in order: France, with over 300 warheads. China with about 240 warheads. Britain with 225. Israel which has about 80. India similarly has about 80 as well. Then Pakistan with about 70 warheads in total.

The Tragedy Of The U.S.S. Indianapolis

There are many great and famous stories about battles and courage that went on during World War Two. One of the lesser known tragedies occured on July 30th, 1945 in the waters of the Pacific Ocean. The USS Indianapolis was a nearly 10,000 ton heavy battle cruiser that just weeks prior to her sinking had just come out of a naval shipyard having been re-fitted and repaired after suffering damage doing battle with the Japanese. She has just delivered the Atomic Bomb to a B-25 bomber base in the Pacific (The actual bomb in fact the The Enola Gay would drop on Hiroshima on August 6th) and had turned around and started steaming for the Phillippines. On the night of July 30th at just a little bit past midnight a Japanese submarine launched two torpedoes straight for the middle of her hull. Once they exploded they set off a chain reaction with some of the munitions that were on board and the ensuing secondary explosions and fire nearly severed the ship in half. She had a crew of 1200 and within the first minutes of the attack the fire and explosions had killed about 300 on board. The captain ordered the ship to be abandoned at this point and nearly 900 men all jumped overboard and began swimming away from the burning wreck. The ship had completely sunk undernearth the waves in a little over ten minutes leaving all the crew bobbing on the waves in the middle of the night in total darkness. The distress flares that the crew had sent out just after the beginning of the attack were ignored by the U.S. Navy. They were thinking that it was perhaps some kind of Japanese trick to lure them in for an ambush as sea. As daylight rose the next morning an even more tragic turn for the worse takes place. The waters they were sunk in were shark infested and the first of the swarm of sharks that would soon appear was spotted by some of the crew for the first time. Because of the ignored distress flares nobody was coming to rescue them yet so they were stuck in the water for days. Finally on August 2nd, 1945 an overhead recon flight spotted the men in the ocean and a massive rescue operation was launched. In the four days between the sinking of the ship and the rescue launch out of the 900 men that jumped into the water after the Indianapolis was sunk less than 300 made it out of the water alive after the sharks were done with them.

More College Kids On Meds Than Ever Before

According to a recent study conducted by the American Psychological Association there are now more college kids in the U.S. on Psychological medications than ever before in history. That might explain some of the weird behavior in college kids these days. There is a marked increase in depression and anxiety among the college crowd and they are taking more psychological medications to cope than ever. According to the study depression has increased by 40% over the last ten years. The study involved more than 3200 college kids who were followed between 1997 and 2009 and it discovered that 24% of them were on some kind of prescribed drug for Anxiety. Usually the students who were suffering the most were those who were labled in the study as "Socially Isolated."

Huge Piece Of Iceburg In Greenland Breaks Away

If you are thinking that perhaps this summer has been a little bit hotter than the usual summer there is certainly tons of meteorological evidence to prove that you are right. This past July was the hottest ever recorded in New York City. Some people are pointing to global warming. Another rather large piece of evidence that this may be the case came out of Greenland this week. Researchers at the Canadian Ice Service were surprised to discover that a huge piece of ice over 4 times the size of Manhattan had broken off of The Petermann Glacier, which is one of the largest in Greenland. It is so big in fact that they are referring to it as an "Ice Island." There are two big concerns about the future of this seriously big piece of ice. The first is that if it drifts into the shipping lanes of the North Atlantic it may have a negative effect on commerce and may cause something of a further downturn in the economy. The second big concern has to do with what will happen if this "Ice Island" begins to melt and how much of an effect will that have on raising sea levels in the area and what kind of an effect will that have on residents who live near the shorelines in that region.

Poverty And Wealth On The Good Earth

The gap between the rich and the poor in the world has always been a wide one. There has always been a universe of difference between the way the wealthy experience life and the way the poor do. Perhaps the gap between the two has never been wider in history than it is now. Consider some modern facts about the rich and the poor:

• Over 1 billion people in the world do not have enough food currently to eat. That is larger than the population of the U.S. and Europe combined.


• 65% of the world's hungry live in only seven countries. India, China, Congo, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Ethiopia.


• The world's billionaires have assets that exceed the combined incomes of 45% of the world's population while over a billion poor people are forced to survive on less than one dollar a day.


• Every year 15 million children around the world die from malnutrition.


• For the price of one missile a school full of children could be provided with enough food to eat for 5 years.

Top Ten Newspapers In The U.S.A.

It does not come as a surprise to anyone to note that newspapers in the U.S. are going through a trying time. All kinds of competition from alternative forms of media have conspired to reduce the audiences of almost all of the nations printed media publications. They may be going down but they are not dead yet. In some cases they still command a significant audience in terms of size. Here now is a list of the top ten newspapers in the U.S. based on total daily circulation for the first six months of the year 2010. Circulation figures have been rounded up:

1. Wall Street Journal --2,092,000


2. USA Today ----------- 1,826,000


3. N.Y. Times ------------- 951,000


4. L.A. Times ------------- 616,000


5. Washington Post -------579,000


6. Daily News --------------535,000


7. N.Y. Post --------------- 525,000


8. Oakland Tribune ------- 517,000


9. Chicago Tribune ------- 516,000


10. Houston Chronicle ----- 494,000

The Chemical Risk When You Shop

Few Americans are aware of the risk they take every time they go out and buy some bottled water. A chemical called Bisphenol is used to make the plastic that the bottles are made of. It can seep into the water contained inside and cause health issues for some. Bisphenol has been linked to certain cancers. The chemical as it turns out is also present in your grocery store receipts when you shop as well. According to a recent study it was discovered that over 40% of grocery store receipts contained significant amounts of Bisphenol. when you handle your receipts the chemical can rub off on your hands and can be absorbed by the body. Experts are not certain how much of the chemical rubs off and is absorbed through the skin when you come into contact with it and they are therefore not certain about how much of a risk is being run by the general population. Biphenol was found in receipts that were taken from Gas stations, Fast food restaurants, and other retailers in addition to just grocery stores.

New Anti - HIV Gel Ready For Africa

A new Anti -HIV gel Is holding out the promise of being able to significantly reduce the spread of HIV on the African continent. It is an antiretroviral gel which contains Tenofovir, which has been proven to destroy HIV cells in the body. The biggest and most promising feature of the gel is that it's use can be completely controlled by women. It does not depend on the cooperation of males in any way in order to implement and achieve an effective result. Up until this point the hope of slowing down the spread of HIV in Africa has depended on mainly the use of condoms or abstinence. These are two options that all too often African men have been unwilling to practice. The new gel will be completely controlled and implemented by women and therefore will not require the cooperation of a male partner thereby taking men and their lack of cooperation totally out of the equation. In a recent study which was undertaken in South Africa the new HIV gel reduced the spread of the disease by almost 40% over almost a 3 year period in a study that involved nearly 1000 women. In another study where the gel was used both before and after intercourse the spread of HIV was reduced by almost 55%. It was also helpful in reducing the spread of Genital Herpes as well. While it is neither a cure nor a vaccine it is holding out the hope that the wild spread of the HIV virus in Africa can finally be put under some kind of control.

Former VP Dick Cheney Loses His Heartbeat

Former Vice President Dick Cheney has been struggling with heart problems for many years. His latest treatment for his recurring condition has left him now in fact without a pulse. Recently he has been rushed to the hospital complaining of chest pains, which is something that has happened in the past many times. The way the doctors decided to treat his condition this time is with the use of a Ventricular Assist Device (VAD). What a VAD does is that it keeps blood flowing throughout the body without the need for a pumping action, which thereby eliminates a pulse. In the past VAD's were used as a temporary fix while heart patients waited for transplants but the technology has progressed to such a point that doctors are looking at the device as more of a permanent fix now. VAD's work so well in fact that they are eliminating the need for transplants all together in some patients.

Thomas Jefferson's Little Big Mistake

There are some people who hold the image of Thomas Jefferson to be, if not perfect, than near perfect. Then there are the rest of us who believe that he was a great and important man who sometimes made mistakes. One of his smaller mistakes has recently come to light with the help of modern technology. It seems that in the original rough draft of the Declaration Of Independence he more than once made the mistake of referring to the American People as "subjects." Instead of "Citizens." Now if you know anything about the difference between a Democracy and a monarchy then you know that this is a serious no no. "Subjects" are always subject to the rule of a monarch. In a Democracy there are no subjects only citizens who have rights, and can vote, and have a say in how their government is run and are not subject to the desires of a king. It was a Freudian slip that Jefferson made and he sought to fix it. With the use of high resolution digital cameras the document was photographed and it was discovered that Jefferson himself probably was the one who erased the word "subject" in several places and wrote the word "citizens" over it in its place.

Forclosure Rates In U.S. Set To Reach Record HIgh

Since the beginning of the worldwide economic downturn which began in September of 2008 the number of Americans who have been losing their homes has been increasing. 2010 may be the worst year yet. So far this year the U.S. is on pace to have over 1 million homes foreclosed upon by banks and other lending institutions which would be a new record. 2009 was the worst year so far. There were over 900,000 homes which went into foreclosure in that year. To give you an idea about where the foreclosure rate used to stand in more normal economic times in a typical year in the U.S. before the economic meltdown the number of American homes that would usually be foreclosed upon was about 100,000 a year, give or take.

The Trouble With Wind Power

For many people the idea of a future where energy is generated from the wind through the use of wind turbines is a promising hope and maybe a saving grace for the environment and mankind. It would be great if it could work but consider some of the drawbacks: Some residents in the Midwest who currently live near wind farms that have been established to generate power have been complaining about the loud noise that emanates from the motors on the wind turbines. In order for a turbine to maximize it's potential for generating electrical power it has to have its propellers facing the wind. They have motors built into them to turn the entire head of the turbine into the wind to do this every time there is a change in the wind direction. When the motors kick in to turn the propellers they generate a piercing noise that can be heard from long distances and nearby residents often complain. Another complaint is the so called "Flashing" effect that occurs when a turbines propellers are turning and they are in the sunlight. They tend to block out the sun for a brief moment with their blades as they rotate and this repeated effect causes the sunset to flash in the windows of homeowners living nearby. It's kind of a flickering effect instead of a steady sunlight hitting your window in the late afternoon and evening hours. Many people simply do not like the aesthetics of having dozens of wind turbines spinning in a wind farm. Home owners close by feel that it can be a blight and reduce the values of their properties and are therefore opposed to them. Wind turbines only begin to generate electrical power when the wind is spinning the propellers of the turbines in excess of 10 m.p.h. Any less wind speed and no power is generated. Obviously they do not even spin when the wind is not blowing at all which poses a problem in terms of having a consistent, reliable source of power. When a wind turbine is installed in the ground it has to be supported by a base of cement in order to hold it's entire weight securely. You can't just stick it into the dirt because it would likely tip over due to the fact that the ground underneath it would shift. These slabs of concrete that must be built as a base for a wind turbine require earth movers in order to establish a hole in the ground deep enough before the concrete is poured in and allowed to dry. The large amounts of cement that have to be mixed and manufactured to put in wind turbines is also damaging to the environment due to the many steps involved in the process and the amount of energy required to produce concrete. It is a heavy industrial process which requires a lot of energy and generates a lot of heat and adds to the general global warming problem worldwide.

The Prettiest And Most Foolish Russian Spy

If you are living in New York City these days you have not been able to escape the news of the F.B.I. sting of that group of Russian spies that have been uncovered operating both in the city and in New Jersey. Easily the most interesting of the group is the 28 year old Anna Chapman (real name Anya Kuschenko) who's cover was to pose as a party girl/real estate agent while she spied for Moscow. Not only is she the most stunning looking of the bunch she may also have been the most dim witted too. According to court documents filed by the justice department in the case, which describe the day to day operations of the F.B.I. sting, Chapman not only did not seem to have the first clue that she was being followed but engaged in some truly ponderous and stunningly foolish behavior for a secret agent. When she was contacted by the F.B.I., who were pretending to be Russian Intelligence, she was not even suspicious that the call to set up a meeting came from someone other than her usual contact. A person in fact that she had never seen or heard of before. Later that day when they met at a coffee shop in Manhattan she began complaining that her laptop was having connection problems and she handed it over to the agent and asked him to have it fixed. The laptop contained all the information the F.B.I. needed about all of her communications back to Moscow. After the meeting was over Chapman left and again failed to notice that she was being tailed by other agents. She went into a Verizon store where she bought a new cell phone and a couple of prepaid phone cards. On her way down the street she quickly discarded the receipt. The agents recovered it from the trash can and found out that she gave a fake Russian name in order to buy the phone (Irine Kutsov) and a fake address (99 Fake Street). Giving a fake Russian name may not be the most clever idea if you are a Russian spy trying to hide the fact that you are a Russian spy. The silliness of the fake address is truly like someone asking to be caught. Her careless behavior is even more surprising when you consider that she holds a Masters Degree in Economics, her former husband has described her as having an I.Q. of 160, and she is believed to be able to fluently speak four languages. President Obama has said that this spy case is not going to effect the "Restart" that the President wants in U.S./Russian relations. The President knows that if we make a big case out of this thing the Russians are going to start rounding up American spies in Moscow and that would make the whole matter so not worth it.

What's Old Is New Again In High Tech

Well the day has finally arrived. The New Apple i-Phone 4 has just been released and the number of individuals that have camped out in front of the Apple i-Store in Midtown Manhattan can finally go in and get one. One of the biggest features of this new version of the I-Phone is that it can allow you to see the person that you are talking to live on a video camera when you call them to chat as long as they too have an i-phone 4. This technology sounds amazing and it has been impressing the heck out of a lot of people who are hearing about it for the first time. Few people seem to realize that this video phone capability goes all the way back to the World's Fair of 1964 when it was first debuted. Back at the fair (in a section of high tech displays known as "Futurama") The Video Phone was a lot bigger and bulkier than the slick I-Phones of today of course. It was basically a telephone with a TV like monitor attached to it. If the person you were calling had the same set up you could dial the number and when the call connected you would be able to see the other person on the other end of your call as long as they were standing in front of their monitor. For some reason the video phone back then did not take off and the idea died for many decades. Now 50 years later it is coming out again and the public seems to think it is state of the art technological advancement and they are jumping all over themselves to own one. It is the same kind of story that happened with the wireless remote control for televisions. The wireless remote debuted in the 1950's but again for some reason the public was not interested in it and it did not sell. Because of this rejection the American public opted to stick with their old style TV sets with the little knob tuners that they had to get up from their couches to turn in order to change the channel. The wireless remote control was again re-introduced in the 1980's and then it took off big. Now we have a generation of young people who don't even know what a TV with knobs on it even looks like. That kind of TV would probably look to them like what a cave man's eating utensils would have looked like to my generation back when I was a kid watching a TV with knob tuners on it.

Presidents And The Generals They Fire

With the firing of General Stanley McChrystal from his position running the war in Afghanistan (and for demonstrating the monumental lapse in judgement of actually saying to a reporter what he actually thinks about the President and the Vice-President and several other members of his cabinet) one has to take note that it is not the first time in history that this kind of thing has occurred. A similar conflict happened between President Harry Truman and General Douglas MacArthur in 1951 during the Korean War. General MacArthur wanted two things from Truman. The first one was that he wanted the president to give him the green light to fight all the way up the Korean peninsula and actually take the war over the North Korean border and go right into China which would have greatly expanded the war. The second thing was that MacArthur wanted the president to authorize the use of nuclear weapons to settle the conflict. When Truman refused MacArthur took his complaints about the president to the press more than once and then he wrote an open letter to the U.S. Congress criticizing Truman. MacArthur even gave Truman the ultimate act of disrespect when he deliberately failed to salute the president when he came off his plane when Truman went to the war front in Korea to discuss matters directly with him. MacArthur got canned. It effectively ended his career as a military man. The same kind of thing occurred between General George McClellan and President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. McClellan was in charge of the Union Army when a disagreement occurred between him and the President about how to prosecute the war. McClellan was relieved of his command. In the weeks and months that followed McClellan referred to Lincoln both as an idiot and also as a well meaning buffoon. He even ran for president against Lincoln in the 1864 election but his candidacy never got any real traction and Lincoln was re-elected.

Sea Life In Pacific Indicating A More Polluted Ocean

On April 18, 2010 an event occurred on the shores of Seattle, Washington that does not bode well for the long term well being of sea life in the Pacific Ocean. On that morning a 38 foot black and white whale appeared dead on the shores of one of Seattle's waterways. Scientists and researchers were of course curious to find out what had caused the whale to die so they undertook an autopsy. Inside the stomach of the whale they found a pair of sweat pants, a total of 20 plastic bags, several golf balls, several discarded dirty rags, and a couple of rolls of duct tape among several other items. It has been known for a long time that the Pacific Ocean is getting more and more polluted with this kind of waste material. There is a section of the ocean known as the "Pacific Gyre" where the water gyrates and swirls in a circle where there is all kinds of junk like empty plastic bottles, bottle caps, various assorted pieces of plastic, plastic toys, tooth brushes, floating pieces of wood of all sizes, even some furniture such as pieces of couches and chairs have been spotted. It was concluded that the dead whale died simply from consuming these various pieces of garbage that float on the surface of the Pacific and are now ubiquitous along that entire body of water.

Female Executives Around The World

The number of female executives inhabiting a corporate board room varies widely around the world. The reasons it varies are sometimes cultural and sometimes a matter of law. In Norway 40% of the execs at major corporations are female nowadays. They have to be by law. In 2002 the Norwegian Parliament passed a law mandating this figure to their corporate world and gave them 6 years in which to comply. Its been a success. So much so that other European countries are following suit. Spain has introduced a similar law now and has given their corporations until 2015 to meet the same 40% figure for female employment. France is looking to do the same but has not put anything into law yet. These laws are in response to a long standing practice in corporations around the world to under represent women in board rooms. In some countries women make up the majority of the population yet have been almost totally shut out of the business hierarchy. In some parts of the world it is worse than in others. In the U.S. women make up about 15% of the corporate population. In the European Union they only currently make up less than 10%. In Asia it is the lowest at under 5%.

World Cup Far Outshines Super Bowl In Popularity Worldwide

If you are a sports fan in America you would immediately believe the The Super Bowl is by far the biggest sports event that takes place on earth every year. That would be due to the fact that you would not have noticed the 800 pound gorilla in the room, known as the World Cup, that far surpasses it in terms of an overall worldwide audience. Soccer is by far the world's most popular sport hands down. There is not even any other sport that begins to get even close to its worldwide appeal. The last World Cup that was played gained an audience of over 700 million viewers around the World. To give you an idea of just how big that is the last Super bowl game that was played in early February achieved a record audience of over 100 million. Usually its rating is around 80 million or so. A particularly interesting World Series game would get you about 20 million or so viewers in a typical year. An NBA Finals game is usually well under 9 million.

The Oilest Country On Earth

As far as oil consumption goes worldwide there is and has always been only one all time champion. The United States by far consumes most of the world's oil. The U.S. population makes up about 5% of the world population and consumes about 25% of the world's total oil usage every year. It is estimated that America on average consumes about 15 barrels of oil per person each year which is far and away the most by any country. If the entire world population consumed oil at the rate the U.S. does the remaining oil supply would not last much longer. A good way to put it would be like this: If the entire world were to consume oil at the rate that the nation of India consumes oil the remaining supply would last about 225 years. If it were to consume it at the rate China does it would last about 100 more years. If it consumed it at the rate Britain does it would last only 17 more years. If the whole world were to consume oil at the rate the U.S. presently does the world's remaining supply would last only 7 more years.

U.S. And Friends Reveal Nuclear Figures

There is some good news and bad news if you are wanting to feel optimistic about the future of mankind. The bad news is that there are tons of nuclear warheads that are still possessed by the world's nuclear nations and a bunch of other unstable countries that either have or are trying to join the club. The good news is that the number of nukes is way down from its highs during the Cold War. The U.S. announced the total number of warheads that are currently in its nuclear arsenal to date. The number now is 5113 in total. This figure represents a serious decline from its high of 31,255 in 1967. The French and British also released their nuclear figures too. France lists its total number of nuclear warheads at 355. Most of them are bomber based and not based in missile silos or anything of that kind. They also report that they have about 4 nuclear subs. The British list their total at 225 and that their warhead stockpile is largely bomber based as well. An important thing to understand about nuclear warheads is that many of the ones in the U.S. stockpile are MIRV capable. MIRV is short for Multiple Independent Re-entry Vehicle. What that means is that one missile that has MIRV capability may have as many as ten separate nuclear warheads in its missile head that can be each programmed to hit a separate target city. Its kind of like a gun with more than one bullet. Although it is just one gun each bullet inside the chamber can be shot at a different target. The U.S. nuclear arsenal that is land based in silos in the Midwest features this capability. It is also present in its submarine based nuclear force. So when The U.S. states that it has 5113 warheads it does not mean that it possesses 5113 nuclear missiles. It means that its missile force contains a total of 5113 warheads. That is to say 5113 nuclear bullets in all its guns.

Working Conditions In China Leading To Suicides

If you think that you have a long, busy work week consider what a typical worker in China has to go through. It is not uncommon in that nation for a worker in a factory to be on the job for 18 hours a day seven days a week. There is no union activity allowed, no benefits offered, and they are paid well under $200 dollars a month and they can be fired at any whim by their employer with no legal recourse. In some cases wages are as low as 9 cents an hour in some factories. It can be enough to drive some Chinese employees to commit suicide. Consider a company called Foxxconn. It is a factory that employs over 300,000 people. They assemble products for American companies that do not want to hire and employ American workers in order to save money on labor costs and thereby increase their profit margins. Foxxconn factory puts together products like The I-Phone for Apple. They also assemble computers for Dell. On May 25th they suffered their ninth suicide of the year by an employee when a worker jumped out of a window rather than go back to work to do another grueling shift. The company and factory have been singled out and criticized in the past for stressful working conditions but the owner of the company has long denied that he runs a "sweatshop."

The Day They Burned The White House Down

Many Americans believe that after the Revolutionary War was won in 1781 that hostilities ceased between Britain and The Colonies. It was not the case. The bad blood and fighting went on well into the 19th century. Probably its zenith occurred on August 24, 1814, during the War of 1812. There had been on going disputes between England and the United States involving land in the Northwest territory. There also continued the problem of British Impressment of U.S. sailors on the high seas. The British would seize U.S. vessels and sailors and get them to change sides and fight for them against the U.S. They would use threats usually. Most of the sailors refused. The British were stopping U.S. shipping which was interfering with commerce and damaging the economy by preventing goods from reaching the country. In retaliation for this the U.S. Army set fire to the city of York in Canada. That city is today known as Toronto. The British responded by heading straight for the capitol. They met only light resistance on their march to Washington because most of the U.S. Army was up further north around Toronto. Once they got into the city they went right for the White House and lit it up. They sent President Madison fleeing into the night as the building burned.

The World's Most Stolen Painter

What is it about Pablo Picasso? One of the twentieth century's most famous and successful painters was not only a big hit with the patrons of the art world but he may be in fact an even bigger hit with art thieves. As it turns out his art works are by far the most sought after with people that like to steal art. Over the years more than 650 Picasso pieces have been targeted and stolen. That figure puts him far and away at the top of that list. A distant second is Mattise who's art pieces have been targeted about 130 times. It is no wonder really that Picasso is the most sought after considering that two of his works are on the top ten list of the most expensive paintings in the world. His "Dora Maar au Chat' is valued at over 95 million dollars. Another of his titled "Garcon a la Pipe" is over 100 million dollars. In case you are wondering the world's most valuable painting at this moment is a Jackson Pollack. His "No. 5" which he painted in 1948 was sold at auction just a few years ago for over 140 million dollars. Despite this fact Pollack's painting has never been stolen. This might be due to the fact that it's about 8 feet high and over 4 feet wide though.

U.S.- Mexico Crime Rate Comparison

You would think right off the bat that surely crime in the United States is far lower on average than it would be in Mexico. At least that's what most Americans would be inclined to initially believe. As it turns out it depends on what category of crime you are looking at. The numbers fluctuate from year to year but on average they remain within a certain ballpark. If you were to look at total crimes committed in the United States per 100,000 inhabitants the number would be about 4000 per year. That is to say that about 4000 Americans out of every 100,000 are victims of some kind of crime each year in the U.S. In Mexico It is about 1500 per 100,000 which is much lower. If you were to look at murder rates you would find that in Mexico about 13 individuals out of every 100,000 are murdered each year. In the U.S. it is a little over 5 per 100,000 a year which is a much lower murder rate. If you looked at rape statistics you would find that 14 out of 100,000 Mexicans are victims of rape each year. In the U.S. it is about 33 per 100,000. There is also far more theft in the U.S. than in Mexico on average. About 120 Mexicans per 100,000 are victims of some kind of theft each year. In the U.S. it is over 2400 per 100,000. Auto theft is also more prevalent in The U.S. 430 per 100,000 vehicles are stolen here each year. In Mexico it is about 140 per 100,000. Armed robberies are about the same for each country. About 150 per 100,000 inhabitants each year. It is important to remember that maintaining statistics on crimes committed is a little bit of a shaky business. Some crimes such as rape and robbery are sometimes not reported to authorities and due to this fact the figures are imperfect. Despite that the stats do give a reliable idea about where things stand in a general way even if they are not exact.

The Constitution And The Right To Bear Arms

If you were inclined to listen to organizations like The National Rifle Association you would think that every American were born with the right to own a gun from birth. They always sight the Second Amendment to the Constitution to push forth their claim and quote directly from the document itself and state: "...the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." This is usually the mantra that they recite. The problem with that little quote that they use is that they are only selectively showing you half of it. The entire Second Amendment (It's only one sentence folks) goes like this: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." In order to understand what the second amendment is getting at you have to understand what militia means. Militia means military. A militia, as defined by Webster's Comprehensive Dictionary is "A body of citizens enrolled and drilled in military organizations other than the regular military forces, and called out only in emergencies." Examples of organized militia include The National Guard, The Naval Reserve, and The Marine Corps Reserve. What the second Amendment basically states is that Citizen soldiers have the right to bear arms. That is citizens who are serving in the military in some capacity and not everyone and anyone like the N.R.A. is always misleading people to believe. Not store clerks, not waiters, not florists, not pizza shop owners, not teachers, not plumbers, not bus drivers, not executives or anyone else. I understand that this is a tough pill for gun lovers to take, especially the ones who will only allow their guns to be pried from their cold dead fingers. The Founding Fathers were never intending for Every American in civilian life to be walking around packing heat. To somehow claim that they were is an attempt to twist the meaning of their words and to insult their collective intelligence.

The Plot To Steal A Dead President

The assassination of President Lincoln is a famous event in American history but an event that is far less known is the plot that occurred 11 years after his death to steal his body and hold it for ransom. The plan took place on election day, November 6th, 1876 and it involved a bunch of counterfeiters. A man named Ben Boyd had just been arrested, tried, and sentenced to ten years in prison for counterfeiting U.S. currency. His partner in crime Jim Kinelly found himself suddenly without a job so he hatched a plot to steal the former president's body and hold it for ransom. He planned on demanding $200,000 from the U.S. government for the return of Lincoln's remains plus he wanted his partner Ben Boyd pardoned. He and a couple of hired helpers got to the cemetery on election night and managed to file open the lock at the entrance of the tomb chamber and made their way in. Once they got inside they ran into a snag. The sealed coffin in which the President rested was made mostly of lead and weighed about 500 lbs in total and proved impossible for the would be body snatchers to just carry away. Another glitch was that the secret service had been alerted of the plot by an informant and they were already at the scene waiting to pounce. When they made their move somehow the grave robbers managed to escape anyway but not for long. The secret service already knew their names through their informant and caught up to them a few days later and arrested Kinelly and his cohorts and the plot was foiled.

Nuclear Testing In Nevada In The 1950's

While many Americans are aware of the fact that there was nuclear testing going on in Nevada in the 1950's few knew or understood what the impacts might be for many decades down the road at the time nor how strange some of the testing proved to be. There were a total of 14 tests of nuclear weapons the first of which was conducted on January 27th, 1951. The test sight was about 60 miles or so from the famed city of Las Vegas. The explosions were even used at the time as an attraction to lure more people into the city to gamble and such. Some of the testing was done at night and when the bombs would go off they would light up the sky in the most amazing way. One of the nukes that was tested was buried in the desert. They were trying to see if you could use a nuclear weapon for purposes of excavating a large area of land quickly. Some of the craters left behind were over 1000 feet across and almost 300 feet deep. The one drawback to this plan was the lingering radiation that would be left behind for years which made the whole idea unworkable. Some of the testing had a bit of a circus atmosphere around it. There were even benches placed in the desert for military V.I.P.'s to sit on so they could watch the explosions and resulting mushroom clouds from about 8 miles away. It was almost like they were watching a movie or some other kind of entertainment and were totally unaware of the risks. It has been long suspected that the famous actor John Wayne may himself have died due to his exposure to these tests while filming some of his westerns. Wayne died of stomach cancer in 1979. Most people point to his filming a movie called "The Conqueror" in 1956 in Utah which was just downwind from the nuclear test sight in Nevada. There is some evidence to suggest that there might be something to it. Out of the 220 cast and crew members who worked on that film at the time 91 of them came down with cancer in the years following the shoot.

Should Your Child Still Have A Polio Shot?

There was a time in the United States in the middle of the 20th century when the disease known as Poliomyelitis was a real fear. Polio is an infectious disease. It is a virus that usually enters the body through the throat and or the intestinal tract and spreads through person to person contact with oral and nasal secretions. In its mildest forms it would usually show flu like symptoms and probably lay you out for about the better part of 10 days after which one would recover. This is what occurred in most cases. In its most severe form it would lead to paralysis and death. This result would occur in about 1% of those afflicted. Perhaps its most famous victim was Franklin Roosevelt who acquired the disease about 10 years before he became president and lost his ability to walk. By 1949 the disease had reached it zenith in the U.S. with over 42,000 cases reported that year. With the introduction of the Polio vaccine by Doctor Jonas Salk in 1955 the occurrences of the illness declined quickly over time and was nearly wiped out in only one generation. By 1979 the number of annual cases in the U.S. has dwindled to only 8. From 1980 - 2006 there had been only 2 confirmed cases of the disease. It has for all practical purposes been wiped out in the United States. Yet despite this fact nearly every child born in America is still vaccinated against a disease that no longer poses a serious threat. Over 95% of new Born's are given the Polio vaccine today. Some have questioned why this is the case considering that Polio is all but gone from the American landscape. Some have suggested that the answer to the question is money. Depending on where you live a Polio vaccine shot can cost anywhere from $25 - $85 each and that 4 shots are "suggested" before the age of 6 for a new baby. Some have stated the belief that continuing to "recommend" to new parents that their babies be protected with these shots rakes in billions for the pharmaceutical industry annually. Usually when a war is won what happens next naturally is that you stop fighting. Polio has been beaten in the United States yet big pharma is still acting like we are in the middle of the Polio war and that there is no end in sight because it serves its economic interests to do so and say so. Of course whether a new parent decides to vaccinate their new child against this disease is a totally personal choice that should be left up to the parents and there is nothing wrong with preferring to be safe rather than sorry. To many it seems like a case of overkill to vaccinate over 95% of the children born in the U.S. against a disease that has shown only 2 confirmed cases since 1980.

The Trouble With Bottled Water

There is no doubt about how convenient bottled water can be. The millions in sales each year is testament to the fact that the general public likes it and keeps buying it despite the fact that they can acquire the product virtually for free from their home faucets. There is however a price to pay for that convenience and the price in the view of some for society is too high. First of all there is the cost. A small bottle of water such as Aquafina or Dasani can cost in excess of $3 in New York City and contain the same amount of water in a typical glass which you could get out of your tap for literally pennies. The source of the water is often the same. The people that market and make bottled water are the same companies that make soda such as Coke And Pepsi and they go the great strides to portray the image of bottled water as pure as if it comes from a mountain stream. About 35% of the bottled water found in the U.S.A. comes from a municipal water supply which is the same place your tap water comes from. They just run it through a water purifier to enhance it a little more and make it fresher tasting. One of the strategies that the bottled water companies initially undertook to promote interest in their product was to scare the public into believing that their tap water was somehow polluted and unsafe to drink and that their pure product would be better for you and safer which is actually not the case considering that the water very often comes from the same place. Then there is the problem of the garbage that it is generating. All of those plastic bottles that people dispose of after they consume their bottled water ends up eventually in city landfills because while much of it is recycled these days not all of it is and the stuff ends up taking centuries to break down and when it does can sometimes, depending on the type of plastic the bottles are made of, emit dangerous chemicals over time such as Bisphenol (BPA) which has been linked in studies to an increased risk for the development of Breast cancer and Prostate cancer for those who are excessively exposed to the chemical.

Hispanics Gaining Big In U.S. Census

Probably the best reason to undertake a census count, other than the fact that is mandated by the U.S. Constitution, is to get a good idea about what kind of changes take place in the population over time. One of the items that is always looked at in an effort to glean this kind of information is to look at the most popular surnames in the census and to determine what ethnicity's are growing in the country and what others are not. Here below is a list of the ten most common surnames taken from the U.S. Census of 2000, the number of people in the country with that surname, and then the rank of that particular surname in the U.S. Census from 1990 in order to indicate an increase or decrease over time. The largest increase has occured with Hispanics as the chart below indicates:

1. Smith----------- 2,376,206-------------------- 1 (1990 rank)


2. Johnson---------1,857,160-------------------- 2


3. Williams--------1,534,042---------------------3


4. Brown-----------1,380,145---------------------5


5. Jones----------- 1,362,755-------------------- 4


6. Miller----------- 1,127,893-------------------- 7


7. Davis----------- 1,072,335-------------------- 6


8. Garcia------------ 858,289--------------------18


9. Rodriguez-------- 804,240--------------------22


10. Wilson------------ 783,051---------------------8

The Neverending Impact Of Henrietta Lacks

Her name is barely known by anyone yet her impact on the world has been incalculable. Henrietta Lacks was a 31 year old African American mother of 5 who died of cervical cancer on October 4th, 1951 at John's Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. During her 8 month long treatment human cells were removed from her body for purposes of research. The doctors at the hospital soon discovered that her cells not only were growing in their test tubes but were thriving and multiplying. This is a rare occurrence. Most cells that are collected do not continue to grow and replicate indefinitely. Her cells have been used in countless medical scientific research over the decades since her passing. They have been used to develop Dr. Jonas Salk's Polio vaccine, they have been used to test and develop various chemotherapy treatments for cancer patients, and also used to develop in-vitro fertilization techniques among countless other uses. Her cells are still alive and replicating today and continue to be of valuable use and service to the medical research community in order to develop new treatments and medications for the ill. The cell line that she donated is known as the HeLa cell line. Hela represents the first two letters of her first and last names. Her children and other descendants were totally left in the dark about her donation to medical science until about 1973 when a member of her family had a chance encounter with someone who happened to work in a medical lab and mentioned her name in discussion with relation to his work. Despite the countless good that has come from Henrietta Lacks and her contribution (and the countless billions that the pharmaceutical industry and medical community have gained by her) her family has not seen any benefit either economically or in terms of recognition of their mother and grandmother. Ironically some of her children live without health care today because they cannot afford it and some of her children are now in debt because of their medical bills.

U.S. Population Growth Since The Revolution

It is true in the United States as much as it is true everywhere else in the world. The population is exploding in size. At the time of the U.S. revolution there were less than 3 million Americans who existed. It is estimated that by the year 2100 there will be well over 500 million. Here now is a list of the U.S. population growth since the American Revolution which demonstrates just how quickly populations rise:

• 1780 -- 2,780,400


• 1800 -- 5,308,483


• 1820 -- 9,638,453


• 1840 -- 17,069,453


• 1860 -- 31,443,321


• 1880 -- 50,189,209


• 1900 -- 76,212,168


• 1920 -- 106,021,537


• 1940 -- 132,164,569


• 1960 -- 179,323,175


• 1980 -- 226,545,805


• 2000 -- 281,421,906


• 2010 -- 309,162,581 (est.)

"Glassing" Violence Becoming An Expensive Problem In U.K.

The issue of violence in Britain at and around football matches in not a new phenomenon but the increase in the number of incidents over the years is now becoming an expensive issue for the National Health Service there. It is known as "Glassing" and it usually occurs in England in and around sporting matches, bars, and clubs. It is when an individual uses a glass as a weapon and attacks another individual by either throwing it or breaking it first and then using it to cut a victim usually after an argument has ensued about sports or British football.. The result is usually heavy blood loss, permanent scarring, and serious injury. In the U.K. over 87,000 incidents take place now every year. It is now costing The National Health Service over 4 Billion dollars a year to treat these injuries. The cost is becoming so high in fact that the Government is now moving to have all the glassware in British bars and Pubs replaced with glassware that is not breakable such as plastic or even paper cups in an attempt to both reduce the number of these incidents annually and also curb the ever rising costs associated with having to treat such injuries.

The Only Bad Flight In The History Of Concorde

The Concorde was the worlds first super sonic jet plane. The joint effort of both the French and British governments it debuted in 1969 and proved to be a success from the start and a hit with the public. It maintained a perfect safety record for over 30 years until July 25th, 2000 when it suffered its only crash. It took place in Paris, France at Charles Degaulle Airport. Just ahead of it on the runway was a Continental DC-10 which was taking off and heading for Texas. As it lifted up somehow a small piece of metal about 4 inches long fell off during the stresses of takeoff and ended up on the runway. The Concorde being next to takeoff followed its usual procedure and sped up as it made its way down the runway to gather up enough speed to lift into the air. Investigators estimate that it was traveling at about a speed of 200 MPH when her left wheel came into contact with the metal strip left on the tarmac by the previous Continental Flight. The small piece of titanium shredded the tire causing small chunks of rubber to fly up into the air at speeds that were about equivalent to that of a bullet shot from a gun. One of the chunks of rubber flies up and strikes the Concorde on the left side of the jet under its wing where the fuel tanks for the plane are located. The rubber traveling at such a high speed impacts the tank which causes a shock wave that ignites a fire in the wing but the jet still manages to lift off and become airborne. Citizens in Paris witnessed the plane in flight over the city traveling with its left wing engulfed in flames trailing black smoke behind it. The jet remained in the air for about two minutes when it finally came crashing down directly upon a hotel called The Relais Bleu which was located about ten miles outside of Paris. One hundred passengers were killed along with a flight crew of nine and four others on the ground. Most of the passengers on this particular flight were German. They were tourists on their way to J.F.K. Airport in order to connect with a cruise ship that was headed for Ecuador. The Incident marred an otherwise flawless flight record for the Concorde that had been in tact since the inception of the plane 30 years before. After the crash all Concorde flights were grounded for a time. The fleet itself was finally retired in 2003 for economic reasons rather than safety ones. The planes were no longer cost effective to fly because they used excessive amounts of jet fuel that were too costly for their continued operation.

Russians Develop Their Own Stealth Fighter Jet

It has been a technology that has been around for a while in the west but the Russians are finally catching up this week when they rolled out their own version of a fighter jet that is invisible to radar. The T-50 is the first fighter Aircraft that has been developed by the Russians since the fall of The Soviet Union and it is designed to compete with the U.S. Air Force and its F-117 and the newer F-22 Raptor. It is capable of hitting multiple targets at once both on land and in the air while remaining virtually invisible to radar. It has taken decades to develop in total secrecy and this week the first prototype was rolled out for a test flight. The flight lasted about an hour and all went according to plan with the jet. Some experts say that part of the reason the Russians have developed the plane is in the hopes of being able to sell it overseas in order to increase exports and generate revenue for the Russian State. The plane is still in its developmental stages and the final version of the jet probably wont be available until all the glitches have been worked out and it is put through its paces. That should maybe take about 2 or 3 more years.

Bill Gates Announces Trial Phases For Malaria Vaccine

The fight against malaria worldwide was given a big boost in early 2009 when Bill Gates announced That through The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation they would be donating 168 million dollars to the Path Vaccine Initiative which does research to work on a solution to this disease. Malaria is a mosquito born malady that occurs when a mosquito bite leaves microscopic parasites under the skin of the victim. The first symptoms of the illness are fever and flu like chills. If left untreated it can kill. Worldwide 350-500 million people are infected with malaria and over 1 million die every year. Most of the victims are located in Sub-Saharan Africa. Bill Gates has said that the Path foundation is now in the third stage of trial phases for a vaccine. At the pace they are going a partially effective Malaria vaccine may be available in three years. A fully effective vaccine may take another five to ten years.

The Stabbing Of Martin Luther King Jr.

It is well known by many that the great civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed on April 4th, 1968 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. What is less well known is that ten years earlier he had a close call and was stabbed and nearly killed in New York City. The event took place on September 20th, 1958 in Blumstein's Department Store in Harlem. Dr. King was attending a book signing for his first book titled "Strive Toward Freedom" and as he was signing books a middle aged black woman from Georgia named Izola Ware Curry came up to his table with a copy of his book for him to sign. As he was signing her book she asked him "Are you Martin Luther King?" As Dr. King was signing his name to the book he replied "Yes I Am." At that moment Curry produced a seven inch long letter opener and plunged it into his chest. Dr. King was rushed to a nearby hospital where surgery had to be performed in order to save his life. The doctors later told him that his aorta (the main artery to the heart) was nearly severed and that if he would have so much as sneezed he would have died. Izola Ware Curry was a vagrant who had a history of mental illness and Dr. King asked from his hospital bed that she not be arrested and jailed but that instead she be treated for her mental illness.

The Dirt Cookies Of Haiti

The island nation of Haiti as everyone now knows is going through perhaps it greatest and most pressing crisis dealing with the effects of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake it suffered on January 12th, 2010. It is the latest problem that it has had to deal with but perhaps its longest lasting problem has been one of a lack of food for its people which has plagued the country in perpetuity. Half the people who live there are unemployed and with most now living below the poverty line many in Haiti have taken to making cookies out of dirt in order to fill their stomachs and just get through the day. The way the cookies are made is first with the use of dirt as its main ingredient. Vegetable shortening, salt, and on occasion when it is available sugar will be added to a mix of mostly dirt and water which is gathered from the nearby mountains and mixed into a large pot or vat. Once the "batter" is stirred to a thick enough consistency it is then literally spooned out and spread on the ground and formed into the shape of individual cookies that are about the same size as a music CD with a spoon and then left out in the sunlight to dry. Once dried they are then hard and solid and "ready" for consumption. The dirt cookies are especially popular with children in Haiti because they are cheap to buy but they offer almost no nutritional value. Many of the locals who consume them say that they do make them sick sometimes but that after a while they claim that their bodies get used to them and tolerate them better. Many of the Haitians who consume the cookies because they have no other food options consider them a necessary evil.

Hospital Drugs Finding Their Way Into NYC Water Supply

If you are interested in finding an inexpensive blood pressure medication or birth control pill and you live in NYC you might try just drinking some tap water. Hospitals in the New York area are flushing so many medications down the toilet that a significant amount of the stuff is ending up in the city's water supply. State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office has been conducting an investigation and he has said that there are medications showing up in the drinking water of the city that should not be there and may be dangerous. The problem according to his office is not serious yet but he is looking to take action now to prevent it from becoming a bigger problem in the future. Cuomo wants to conduct a crackdown on hospitals and nursing homes that flush left over medications down the toilets and sinks like anti-depressants, hormones, and sleeping pills. The meds are ending up in reservoirs upstate and in the drinking water supply which feeds the NYC and surrounding area which is populated by over 9 million people. The practice is legal and the hospitals are not breaking any laws but Cuomo has said that if it continues it will effect the purity of the city's water supply so he is putting pressure on hospitals in the city to not flush the stuff down the toilet anymore and instead find some other way to dispose of the drugs where in which they don't end up in the water supply. Once the stuff gets into the water there is no current technology that is capable of filtering it all out so not introducing the drugs to the water supply in the first place would solve the problem. The levels of medications in the drinking water presently are too low to cause any kinds of problems but if they continue to increase they could present a health hazard to the general public over time.

Police Now Using Airplanes To Catch Speeders

In these economic hard times it is getting harder for local municipalities to maintain their current levels of services with their shrunken tax revenues and it is forcing some of them to think outside the box in terms of coming up with new ways of generating more money. The latest idea some have come up with is to track and catch speeders using airplanes that monitor traffic from the sky. The way it works is like this: They paint lines on the highways every quarter mile and with the use of stop watches pilots will monitor how long a specific vehicle takes to get from one line to another to determine if the car is speeding. If it is determined that a car is in fact speeding a description and location of the vehicle is then radioed down to ground units who will then locate and stop the car and then issue the ticket. They are not using helicopters but rather fixed winged Cessna airplanes which are much quieter than choppers when they fly. The state of Florida has seven craft dedicated to this purpose and is thinking of expanding. These methods have been credited in Florida with the issuing of over 45000 tickets last year about 38000 of which were speeding related. The rest had to do with stopping vehicles that were driving erratically and drunk driving. There are currently 19 states that have similar programs running including California and New Jersey and that number is likely to expand in the future.