Holiday Suicide Rate Increases Are Largely A Myth

It has been believed by a large portion of the population for a long time. That the onset of the holiday season also brings with it an increase in the number of suicides that occur in the general population. That people's feelings of loneliness and despair are exacerbated by the holiday cheer and this leads to greater levels of depression. This was actually studied as a phenomenon decades ago and it was found to be largely untrue. That if anything the holiday season actually served to dampen down the number of suicides and serves to lower the numbers from their more normal levels. The study was undertaken by The National Center for Health in the 1970's and what it discovered was that on a typical day there were 34 suicides reported for every 1 million people in the U.S. population. For the holiday of Thanksgiving that number dropped to 26 suicides per 1 million. For Christmas it was at 30 per 1 million. It did however record an increase for New Year's Day. For that holiday the number would rise to 41 per 1 million. Researchers attributed this to the fact that New Year's day signified the end of the holiday season and that would bring on depressed feelings among some in the general population and lead to that kind of a spike. New Year's day aside however the rest of the holiday season actually does serve to bring on feelings of hope and optimism and good cheer and does help a good many people to perk up and chase away the blues at least for as long as the holiday season goes on.

First Decade Of The Century The Warmest Ever Recorded

Is it getting warmer in here or is it just me? Well according to the United Nation's weather Agency the first decade of this century is going to go down as the warmest ever since records began being kept starting in 1850. They also state that by the end of the century we are likely at this pace to increase the temperature on this planet by 2 degrees. There have been temperature spikes all over the world. This year Alaska experienced it's 2nd warmest July on record, New York City just experienced it's 5th warmest Month of November on record and Australia it's 3rd warmest year ever. Scientists also warn that the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are reaching new highs as well. In 2010 they expect to record a new CO2 high of 390 Parts per million. Fifty years ago the level was recorded at 315 ppm. This year on it's own is the 5th warmest year ever recorded so far. According to NASA the 5 warmest years ever recorded are in order: 2005, 1998, 2007, 2006, 2009.

"Lucy In The Sky" Girl Died This Year

If you are a Beatles fan or even if you are not you may be familiar with it. "Lucy in The Sky With Diamonds" is a song that appears on the Beatles most renowned album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts club band." It came out in 1967 at the height of the Psychedelic rock craze of the late 1960's. The inspiration for the song came from a 3 year old girl named Lucy Vodden who was a friend of John's young son Julian at school. If you don't know the story it goes like this: Julian came home from school one day with a painting he had done and was eager to show it to his father. John looked at it and said "It's beautiful Julian, what do you call it?" Then Julian said "It's a picture of my friend Lucy from school flying through the sky with diamonds on." John immediately got sparked with an idea and went off and wrote the song. The inspiration for the song has been quite happy over the decades to remain out of the spotlight about it and has kept a low profile and never really sought any attention. Her name was Lucy O'Donnell until 1996 when she married her childhood sweetheart and became Lucy Vodden. She only admitted to being the inspiration for the song in a BBC interview in 2007 for the first time. She also expressed a little bit of an embarrassment about the song and the drug references that are always attached to it. The song was banned on British radio when it came out because the BBC claimed it was about LSD. The Beatles denied this at first but Paul McCartney in 2004 basically admitted that the drug reference was "...Pretty obvious." Lucy Vodden for the last several years of her life had been living with the disease known as Lupus. It is a tissue disease that attacks the body's cells and causes inflammation and can often be debilitating and painful during particularly severe flare ups. In late September while on vacation with her husband she developed a complicating infection and was rushed to the hospital. She died on September 22, 2009 at the age of 46. Julian Lennon has announced that he will release a song in December with all the proceeds going to support the work of the Lupus Foundation.

Poker And The Presidents

There are some who have noticed a similarity between the game of poker and the presidency. That both of these "games" involve high stakes in some cases, a little bit of luck, the ability to successfully bluff your opponent, having the confidence to double down when you feel you have the advantage, knowing when to hold em and knowing when to fold em, and finally when you have done all that you can to just let the chips fall where they may. Some of our nations Commander's in Chief have been known to be better at the game than others. President Obama is known to engage in a hand of poker from time to time and did so often it is reported when he was in the Senate with many of his fellow Senators. He has sometimes used it as a way of breaking the ice with new colleagues and people he meets. Those who have engaged in the game with him state that he loves to play but just for fun. He is averse to playing for high stakes or making very large wagers and just likes to use the game as a way to relax with some friends and extend his political contacts and play for small pots so that there is no real pressure. Some other former presidents who fall into this category are Presidents Teddy Roosevelt, F.D.R., and Harry Truman. There are some former presidents who have had more of an interest in the high stakes nature of the game and were willing to take some chances to make some real money. President Eisenhower got interested in the game early in life and was already a high stakes poker player by the time he got to West Point as a young cadet. He was successful enough at it that he won himself enough money to buy his girlfriend Mamie Dowd an engagement ring when they were courting and paid for all of his uniforms at the academy. The best presidential poker player by far however was Richard Nixon. While in the Navy during World War 2 Nixon actually won a total of over $8000. It was enough money for him to finance his first run for Congress after he left the service, which he won.

Smart Bullets Coming Soon To An Army Near You

There is nothing like having an advantage over an enemy in war and smart bullets may be the ultimate advantage. The military is working on gaining such an edge with new technologies that will give future armies the ability to fight with smart bullets. Also known as EXACTO (Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordinance) They are bullets that when fired will be able to sense air currents and zero in on moving targets by adjusting their positions in mid flight to stay on course to hit a target. Some types will be laser guided. What this will mean is that soldiers will be able to fire their weapons without having to visually sight their targets before firing. They will be able to stay physically out of harms way and shoot from around corners and from behind hills and buildings and the smart bullets will still be able to hit their targets. The technology is not unlike the current Predator drones that the military is utilizing now in Afghanistan which are completely computer driven and unmanned and are assigned a target and then use GPS technology to fly to and zero in on a target and strike it. Some of these technologies have small computers inside which are able to send and receive data to constantly update their information especially if they are fired at moving targets and need to adjust in order to hit them. Some of the research is being conducted at the University of Florida in Gainesville and is being funded by Military contractor Lockheed Martin.

Search For Original Darwin Notebook Goes On

November 24th, 2009 marks the 150th anniversary of the release of Charles Robert Darwin's controversial book about evolution "On The Origin Of Species." It first appeared on this date in 1859 and has been at the center of a controversy about creationism and evolution ever since. When Darwin first set out as a young man of 22 on his trip to the Galapagos Islands on board the H.M.S. Beagle in 1831 he took with him and ended up filling up a total of 15 notebooks worth of information and observations that he made while there about the wildlife forms in nature that he observed. What he wrote in these books changed the way human beings viewed the world. All 15 books were maintained at Darwin' s home named Down House in a section of southern England known as Kent. In the 1960's the books which were all on display there were microfilmed. By the early 1980's someone had noticed that one of the books about The Galapagos Islands was missing. It is suspected that someone stole it. The maintainers of Down House would not mind having it back and have been asking the public for some help in finding it. They say the book is notebook sized, square, bound in a red leather cover, and has a gold clasp. On the cover in Darwin's own handwriting are the words Galapagos and Lima.

Senator Robert Byrd Nears 57th Year In Congress

We all know that nothing lasts forever but West Virginia Democratic Senator Robert Byrd is sure making a real run at trying to dis-prove it. On November 18th, 2009 he served his 20,744th day in Congress which broke the record for longest service. He has now attended over 18,500 Senate roll calls. Has been elected to the Senate 9 times since 1958 and that was after he had served 6 years in the House Of Representatives beginning in 1953. He has now served under 11 presidents. There have been only 44 to date. Born on November 20, 1917 with the original name of Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr. His mother died one year later a victim of the Flu Pandemic of 1918. He was handed over as a child to an aunt and uncle who renamed him Robert Carlyle Byrd and raised him. He has been a democrat all his life but that is not to say that he has been liberal all that time, far from it. He especially seemed conflicted about the issue of race at times in his life. He joined the KKK in 1942 at the age of 24 and held two titles. One was Klegle, which is a recruiter, and the other was as an Exalted Cyclops which was a title he was elected to by the other members. A fierce southern racist by this time he wrote in 1944 "...I shall never fight in the armed forces with a negro by my side..." during World War Two. He quit the KKK in 1952 citing a dis-interest in the cause just before his election to the House for the first time. In 1965 he voted against the Voting Rights Act (which banned discriminatory practices against blacks with regard to voting) but voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (which banned discriminatory practices with regard to housing among other things based on race, religion, etc.) He supported The War In Vietnam in the 1960's but opposed the War In Iraq in 2003. Needless to say his health in recent years has been a bit concerning. Frequent trips to the hospital (the latest in May 2009 for what was described as "An Infection") have caused many to wonder about his fitness for service. He has at times appeared sluggish and confused on the floor of the Senate and has often been brought to the Senate floor in a wheelchair so that he could attend votes. On November 20, 2009 he will turn 92. On January 3, 2010 he is set to complete his 57th consecutive year of service.

Postscript -- Robert Byrd Died on June 28th, 2010 at age 92.