Ekso, ReWalk: New Wearable Robot Exoskeletons to Put Wheelchairs to Shame

ReWalk- a new wearable robot that’s been approved by the FDA, surely knows how to live up to its name! This new device may now help paraplegics to walk by using high-tech braces.

The device makes use of computerized sensors to support the paraplegic user, and mimic the natural feeling of walking. The device currently costs around $69, 500, and is what you could call a new exoskeleton!

And that’s not just it- there’s another device by the name of Ekso, which allows people to walk using robotic technology. While there is a lot to be worked on these devices considering their obvious shortcomings of not being able to last long on batteries and them taking an hour to walk a mile, they do appear to be promising enough to grab the attention of many.

Leg Braces, Exoskeletons, Therapy â€" Are Wheelchairs About to Become a Thing of the Past?

The users of these exoskeleton are expected to experience man benefits including better blood circulation, better respiration and relief from pain. There are also many psychological benefits that this exoskeleton has to offer- the ability to stand with confidence, look into people’s eyes while talking etc.

The exoskeleton basically works on electrical stimulation of the spinal cord, which allows paraplegic patients to move again. The epidural stimulator also mimics signals passed dwon from the body, which also restores motor ability to the patients.

“Because of epidural stimulation, they can now voluntarily move their hips, ankles and toes. This is groundbreaking for the entire field and offers a new outlook that the spinal cord, even after a severe injury, has great potential for functional recovery,” Claudia Angeli, from the Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center (KSCIRC) at the University of Louisville, explained.

This new exoskeleton may actually make wheelchairs the thing of the past, and will allow patients to completely use it to walk around.

“It will be incredible for me to regain independence, to use the system to walk and stand on my own,” Derek Herrera, a paraplegic and captain in the Marine Corps, stated in a press release. The soldier will be one of the first people in the nation to own the ReWalk system.

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DARPA Develops Spider-Man Tech

DARPA or Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency recently demonstrated gecko-like equipment capable of making a soldier climb walls like Spider-Man. Financed by a 2009 grant, the new tools, called Geckskin, are part of the Draper Laboratory and University of Massachusetts’ Z-Man project.

Matt Goodman, the program manager for Z-Man, stated the “gecko is one of the champion climbers in the animal kingdom, so it was natural for DARPA to look to it for inspiration in overcoming some of the maneuver challenges that U.S. forces face in urban environments. The challenge to our performer team was to understand the biology and physics in play when geckos climb, and then reverse-engineer those dynamics into an artificial system for use by humans.”

DARPA develops Spider-Man climbing tech/Image: DTOrg

DARPA equipped a 218-pound subject with an additional 50 pounds of weight and had him climb two-and-a-half stories up a glass surface utilizing the new gecko-inspired paddles. The man was also equipped with a safety belt but did not need it.

Goodman and company explained that a gecko’s toes are equipped with often millions of microscopic hairs named setae. Molecular interactions dubbed “van der Waals forces” are multiplied and provide an incredibly strong hold. The UMass Amherst investigators believed it was more than the creature’s toes at work but the entire foot. So they duplicated it.

Goodman noted: “This allows the pad to drape over a surface to maximize contact. Further, as in natural gecko feet, the fabric is woven into a synthetic tendon yielding a design that maintains stiffness and rotational freedom.”

DARPA believes these paddles could be a boon to soldiers in the field because they generally try for “the high ground” but ladders and rope have not significantly developed over the years. Goodman concluded: “They also only allow for sequential climbing whereby the first climber often takes on the highest risk.” And that their research on climbing is ongoing.

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North Korea Calls Seth Rogen and James Franco’s New Movie ‘The Interview’ An ‘Act of War’

North Korea Calls Seth Rogen and James Franco’s New Movie ‘The Interview’ An ‘Act of War’. Image courtesy of yahoo.com

North Korea is calling Seth Rogen and James Franco’s latest film, ‘The Interview’ an act of war. They are demanding that the film be banned from theater release.

The film that stars the two funnymen centers around two journalist who are told by the CIA to assassinate the Korean president. North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un is more than displeased by the film and is planning ‘merciless’ retaliation upon its release.

A foreign ministry called Rogen a “gangster filmmaker”. Kim Myong-chol, who is the North Korean government’s unofficial spokesman is calling the United States desperate.

“There is a special irony in this story line as it shows the desperation of the US government and the American society,” said Myong-chol during an interview with Telegragh. “A film about assassination of a foreign leader mirrors what he US has done in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Ukraine. And let us not forget who killed (President John F.) Kennedy â€" Americans. In fact, President Obama should be careful in case the US military wants to kill him as well.”

In conclusion he went on to say, “The act of making and screening such a movie that portrays an attack on our top leadership is a most wanton act of terror and act of war, and is absolutely intolerable,” according to AFP.

There is no official word on rather or not the comedy ‘The Interview’ will be banned. The Columbia pictures film is still set to be released this coming October.

Rogen appeared to not budge by the recent threat from the Korean government. He tweeted, “Apparently Kim Jong Un plans on watching #TheInterview. I hope he likes it!!”

North Korea Calls Seth Rogen and James Franco’s New Movie ‘The Interview’ An ‘Act of War’

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Can Egypt’s Army Cure AIDS?

At a press conference yesterday the Egyptian military announced that they would postpone the public use of its “complete cure” virus-curing device for another six months for further testing. Despite skepticism voiced by experts in the scientific community, the Egyptian military pushed their publicity people announced that they would be using their new blood purification/cure device to treat patients in military hospitals as of June 30.

The Egyptian military had introduced its cure device earlier this year claiming it could diagnose and treat diseases caused by viruses such as hepatitis C and AIDS. Statistically-speaking Egypt had eight million cases of hepatitis C in 2008. That’s approximately 10 percent of the population. According to the World Health Organization HIV affects more than 35 million people across the globe.

Egyptian Army/Image: ThinkMarketingMagazine

Those who attended a demonstration of the cure device earlier in the year were left with questions. They told the press they were not satisfied with the explanations concerning the technology. Massimo Pinzani, the University College London Institute for Liver and Digestive Health director, attended the demonstration but was not able to test the device himself. He noted that “in the absence of convincing scientific and technical basis, the device should be viewed as a potential fraud.”

Madiha Khatab, who is part of the medical team and oversees the project, stated that the new device is presently “being used to treat 160 patients.” She reported that the clinical trials would run for a year and there was another six months planned for patient recovery and yet another six months for follow up. She noted that the clinical trials demonstrated excellent results adding that their group will be applying for “an international accreditation” of the new cure device.

Major General Gamal El-Serfy, the medical director of the armed forces concluded: “Scientific integrity dictates that the announcement of the complete cure device should be postponed until the trial period for those currently receiving the cure is over” and the health of their citizens is “more important than anything.”

Can Egypt’s Army Cure AIDS?

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50000-Year-Old Poop: Neanderthals Ate Veggies

According to a new report published this week in the journal PLOS ONE, Scientists from, Spain’s University of La Laguna in The Canary Islands discovered what very well could be the world’s oldest human feces on top of an ancient campfire in Spain. This discovery reveals that Neanderthals may very well have not been carnivores.

Mind you, the research team had not come to Spain looking for defecation. When they arrived at El Salt, the Neanderthal site, they were hoping to discover food scraps and cooking utensils. They were investigating the ancient fire pits there hoping to find some insights on Neanderthal food preparation and details about how Neanderthals cooked food.

Neaderthal?Image: CryptoCrew

As it turned out, the only food scraps they came across were at the end of the digestion process. They were surprised to discover fecal matter in an area once reserved for food preparation; they doubt the Neanderthal in question defecated over an active fire. The research team believes that the cooking area had been converted to a bathroom.

Ainara Sistiaga, lead author and one of the researchers from ULL said: “I thought they were cooking in there, so I was looking for lipids from cooking. I don’t think they were using (the location as a toilet) when the fire was active.”

Chemical analysis of the petrified poop showed evidence of both animal and plant matter. This revelation is seen as highly significant because Neanderthals were once considered strictly meat-eaters. While plant matter had been discovered in between teeth found in Neanderthal caves scientists continued to have doubts. The leaves were said by some scientists to have gotten there incidentally from Neanderthals eating an animal who had eaten the leaves themselves.

Sistiaga stated that the fecal matter “is the perfect evidence, because you’re sure it was consumed.” It is becoming increasingly clear that Neanderthals were omnivores not carnivores. Sistiaga concluded: “We believe Neanderthals probably ate what was available in different situations, seasons, and climates.”

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The Albino Humpback Whale, Nicknamed “Migaloo”

On Thursday he was seen swimming along Sydney’s coast on his annual migration. This is the third year in a row he’s been spotted.

Rare Albino Humpback
Whale / Photo: Imgur

Albino whales are rare and Migaloo is one of only a small handful of documented all-white humpback adults, according to Oskar Peterson, who runs a website that tracks sightings of white whales around the globe.
“We have photos of a junior Migaloo from a few years ago, but we haven’t seen him since so we don’t know if he survived the South Ocean,” said Peterson.

“But there is a 100% white whale we’ve seen photographic proof of in Norway, so Migaloo isn’t quite as unique as we once thought.”

Migaloo was first seen in 1991 when he was a juvenile and researchers believe he is now in his 20s.
He doesn’t show up every year, but his journey is part of the humpbacks’ annual migration from the Antarctic to their breeding grounds along the Great Barrier Reef.

“The helicopter crews are all out photographing him today,” said Oskar Peterson. “He’s giving us all quite a parade this year.”

Migaloo passed by Cronulla in Sydney’s south on Thursday afternoon and would soon be seen by whale watchers at Bondi Beach, Peterson said.

Spotters of the whale are sharing sightings, photos and video at his Twitter account, Migaloo1.

Male humpbacks can travel up to 140 kilometers (87 miles) a day during their migration, according to experts.
Researchers warn fans to steer clear â€" at least 500 meters away at all times â€" to ensure the whale’s survival.

Too much noise and chasing can disturb him and cause him to use precious energy he needs for migration.
But whale watchers may be able to enjoy Migaloo for decades.

Humpback whales are believed to survive as long as 90 years in the wild.

The Albino Humpback Whale, Nicknamed “Migaloo”

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Officials: End of Flight 370 Blamed On Oxygen Depletion

A new update Thursday from Australian officials regarding Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 states that the ending of the flight is best explained by all 239 passengers and crew members becoming unresponsive, possibly due to oxygen depletion, based on the plane’s steady altitude, loss of radio communications, and other factors.

The end of Flight 370 could be blamed on oxygen depletion Australian officials say. (Photo: Wikipedia)

Australian authorities also believe someone onboard Flight 370 switched on the autopilot system deliberately after the plane turned toward the southern Indian Ocean, where it ran out of fuel and subsequently crashed.

This is more likely than other scenarios such as the plane’s systems malfunctioning, a stall or sudden loss of flight controls, they said. But they stressed that these conclusions are not supported by hard evidence, and that Malaysian authorities heading the overall probe may not share their assumptions.

The questions that still remain are why Flight 370 deviated sharply from its planned route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, or what might have caused the oxygen depletion, if that is indeed what occurred.

Along with the report, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau moved the search area for the third time since the flight seemingly disappeared. The new search is slated to restart in August as much as 600 miles south of the previous underwater focus.

The highest-priority search areas were calculated in part by relying on aircraft maneuvers in previous commercial-plane crashes and the assumption that everyone aboard Flight 370 were victims of oxygen deprivation, or hypoxia.

No theory has been given to the cause of hypoxia. The ATSB said the assumption was made in part because the plane appeared to travel for a long period of time â€" about five hours â€" without any radio communication or dramatic turns in deviations, and assumingly without significant altitude changes.

Martin Dolan, chief commissioner at the ATSB, downplayed the possibility that the autopilot could have been activated automatically, perhaps in the wake of some massive systems failure, however he didn’t provide an in depth explanation.

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Alcohol Consumption Causes 88,000 Deaths Yearly

The study appears today (June 26, 2014) in the CDC’s journal Preventing Chronic Disease.

Excessive alcohol consumption remains a leading cause of premature death in the United States, responsible for 1 in 10 deaths among working-age adults, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Researchers used the CDC’s Alcohol-Related Disease Impact (ARDI) online application to estimate total number of deaths that were attributable to alcohol among U.S. adults ages 20 to 64, from 2006 through 2010. They also examined years of potential life lost across the U.S. by gender and age.

Excessive alcohol use led to nearly 88,000 deaths per year over the study period, and shortened the lives of those who died by about 30 years on average, said study researcher Dafna Kanny of the CDC. “In total, there were 2.5 million years of potential life lost each year due to excessive alcohol use,” she said.

The number of alcohol-related deaths have increased by around 12,000 since 2004, the year a previous CDC study was conducted, Kanny said.

Alcohol is linked with deaths both from acute causes, such as car accidents and falls, and deaths from chronic diseases.

Deaths due to alcohol-related car accidents reached nearly 13,000 per year during the study period, according to the report.

Among the chronic diseases that alcohol can cause, the most common cause of death was alcoholic liver disease (14,000 deaths yearly), followed by liver cirrhosis (7,800 deaths yearly) and alcohol dependence syndrome (3,700 deaths yearly), according to the study.

Most of the deaths that were related to excessive alcohol consumption (71 percent) involved males, Kanny said. “Men are more likely than women to drink excessively, especially binge drinking, having five or more alcoholic drinks in one occasion,” she said. “Among drivers in fatal motor vehicle crashes, men are almost twice as likely as women to have been intoxicated.”

According to the study, New Mexico had the highest number of alcohol-related deaths, with approximately 51 deaths yearly per 100,000 people, while New Jersey had the lowest, with around 19 deaths per 100,000 people.

The results of this study are consistent with similar studies conducted on a global level, and reflect the substantial effect that excessive drinking has on life span and loss of productivity, Kanny said.

Premature deaths due to alcohol consumption, along with the reduced earnings by heavy drinkers, were responsible for 72 percent of the estimated $223.5 billion in economic costs due to excessive alcohol consumption in the U.S. in 2006, she said.

Kanny offered suggestions on what can be done to decrease the number of fatalities due to excessive drinking. “Health care providers can use alcohol screening and counseling to help people who are drinking too much,” she said. “Adults can set a good example for young people by not drinking excessively, and by not providing underage youth with alcohol.”

Other strategies, she added, include increasing taxes on alcoholic beverages, reducing the number of retails outlets that sell alcoholic drinks, and holding alcohol retailers liable for injuries and damage following illegal service to intoxicated or underage consumers.

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Why Are Sharks Always The Bad Guys? – ‘The Why’

Welcome to the latest edition of The Why.  “Why are sharks always the bad guys?” you ask? Good question. Whether it’s in comic books, Disney cartoons, television, major motion pictures or even musical theatre sharks do  get a bad rap in popular culture.

The people at agree. They note: “Sharks have earned a reputation as one of the most well-known animal villains for their unpredictable nature and danger towards human beings. In real life, sharks are one of the world’s most important animals in nature’s ecology.”

Why are sharks always the bad guys?/Image: KidZone

If that’s true then why are sharks always the bad guys? The Villains Wikia people think that despite their importance to the eco system “they are still popularly portrayed as villainous figures, due to their aggressive behavior.” (That’s certainly something upon which pop culture focuses.)

Why are sharks always the bad guys? If you caught a recent episode of the TV program “TechKnow” you know that they too acknowledge that sharks “have been vilified as the world’s ultimate killing machine. “

They also believe that the shark’s “bad boy image is all wrong.”  One of their recent guests, Jim Abernethy is the owner of a scuba-diving business that specializes in “shark dives near West Palm Beach in Florida.” Abernathy (photographically) shoots sharks.

He told the “TechKnow” team: “I haven’t had a single aggressive shark in the 35 years I’ve been swimming with them on a daily basis. We have 400 billion years of sharks shaping our ocean’s health, and in the last 50 yearsâ€"in my watchâ€"we have literally destroyed it.”

Why are sharks always the bad guys?/Image: Wikipedia

Abernethy obviously loves sharks. He thinks everyone should love them. That is reportedly one of the reasons he is now known as “a pioneer in cage-free shark diving” and why he makes a living offering others the opportunity to encounter sharks “up close in the wild.”

Why are sharks always the bad guys? They are portrayed as bad guys because most of us don’t know enough about them. They’ve gotten a bad rap in the media according to experts such as Abernathy. “It’s up to those of us who really know what’s going on to protect them” and to change the misconception.

Why are sharks always the bad guys? Now you know.

You ask the questions.  We provide the answers.

American Live Wire . . . Listen and be heard.

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USMNT Advance to the Round of 16

USMNT advance to round of 16. Photo credit â€" Erik Drost

The USA Men’s National Team lost to Germany by a score of 1-0 but still earned enough points in Group G to advance to the round of 16. It is the second consecutive World Cup that the United States advance beyond the group stage, they will play the winners of Group H in knock out stage of the tournament Tuesday.

There was some speculation as to whether or not Group G leaders Germany would take today’s match with the USA seriously, given their status on top of the Group. Germany had all but secured their status as Group G winners, but needed at least a draw with the US for them to remain the group winners.

Germany broke the game’s deadlock in the 55th minute after Thomas Muller scored on a rebounded ball that was struck well by the forward, just out of the reach of Tim Howard. It was Muller’s fourth goal of the tournament which ties him with Lionel Messi and Neymar for top goal scorer in this tournament.

Germany appeared committed to earning three points against the US, as they controlled the ball for most of the contest and created several scoring chances versus the United States. Jurgen Klinsmann’s side played well enough defensively to keep Germany from taking the goal differential advantage away that they owned over Portugal. On the offensive front, the USMNT created fewer opportunities against Germany than they did in their prior matches against Ghana and Portugal, while being held scoreless for the first time in this tournament.

The USA’s advancement in this tournament can be attributed to their strong play defensively as ESPN commentator and soccer expert Michael Ballack pointed out during the post game commentary. The United States were on their back foot for most of the contest but kept a held the undefeated German side to just one goal. After the contest Jurgen Klinsmann singled out goalie Tim Howard as “their leader” and “[their] big shot”.

The US had two great opportunities to equalize with Germany in stoppage time but the German defense was able to hold handing the United States its first loss of the tournament. The United States are now among the last 16 after surviving the Group of Death.

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3 Hours Of TV Can Kill You?

A new study recently published yesterday in the Journal of the American Heart Association revealed that people who spend more than two hours a day watching TV could double their risk of early death. While researchers have previously proven a link between the two, this new project has come up with data that reportedly fortifies that connection.

The study was conducted by an investigative team from the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain. The researchers studied the viewing habits of 13,000 adult participants in order to further clarify the relationship between watching television and premature death.

They first made certain that none of the participants had health issues such as cancer, diabetes or heart disease in order to avoid skewing the results. They observed the subjects for eight years and compared the rate of death to several sedentary activities. While they found no definitive connection between an early death and such activities as computer usage or driving, the same could not be said when it came to watching television.

Can too much “American Idol” and Reality TV kill you?/Image:NotWorld

Their research revealed that “every two hours” of additional TV viewing significantly added to the risk of numerous “life-threatening diseases.” When compared to participants who reported watching less than an hour of TV per day, the risk of death from cancer rose 21 percent. The risk of heart disease rose 44 percent and the risk of developing other diseases rose a collective 55 percent.

These pronounced results caused even the scientists themselves to doubt their data. They were fully aware that even a strong link does not guarantee a causal relationship. They went back to work controlling for other factors that might have had an effect on their results.

They disqualified 35 deaths that could have shown that poor health can result in more TV viewing time. They adjusted for the tendency to eat more sugar-heavy foods and/or processed snacks while watching television. They controlled for other factors including age, gender, histories of smoking and weight. This only resulted in strengthening the tie between the two.

No one is prepared to declare that TV is responsible for increases in risks involving death. Early critics were quick to claim that “not every factor has been considered” and say that premature death is not as directly connected to TV viewing as the results seem to indicate.

Nevertheless, lead researcher Professor Miguel Martinez-Gonzalez, from the University of Navarra pointed out that “(t)elevision viewing is a major sedentary behavior and there is an increasing trend toward all types of sedentary behaviors” and other sedentary activities like driving or using a computer still require muscle tension and small movements while watching television doesn’t make any demands of one’s muscles.

Studies on this subject all agree that limiting sedentary activities such as watching TV in favor of exercise and eating healthy are the best ways to reduce the risk of an early death.  Martinez-Gonzalez concludes: “Our findings suggest adults may consider increasing their physical activity, avoid long sedentary periods, and reduce television watching to no longer than one to two hours each day.”

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Why Are We Back In Iraq? – ‘The Why’

Welcome to the latest edition of The Why.  “Why are we back in Iraq?” you ask? Good question. But first let’s set aside expected responses like “Because Obama sucks” and review a bit for those who could not keep up on current events.

Recently President Obama ordered a limited deployment of ground troops back to a combat zone in Iraq. (What will actually happenâ€"if anythingâ€" is debatable and not relevant to the question at hand.)

So why are we back in Iraq when our leader became president because he was against confronting Iraq militarily? One reason is that he already tried an alternative solution or what Peter D. Feaver calls “a strategy of restraint” and that bombed. Those advocating restraint won the policy war on both Syria and Iraq and now the President must deal with the results.

Why are we back in Iraq?/Image:WisdomQuarterly

Why are we back in Iraq? Our armed forces are back in Iraq because Obama is desperate enough to do what the more cynical of us think all politicians do. Namely, he’s desperate enough to consider doing the exact opposite of what got him elected in the first place.

Why are we back in Iraq? Our military has returned to Iraq because (as Feaver and others agree) President Obama is currently attempting to doâ€"with this “small deployment”â€"what may have been accomplished earlier with a stronger commitment.

Why are we back in Iraq? We are back there because our elected leader can’t go on TV and tell us Iraq was lost from the start because his administration reportedly declared “mission accomplished” in 2011. He could actually believe it by now but cannot admit it.

Why are we back in Iraq? Some political pundits believe we are there because while some claim we have no real stakes in the fall of Iraq Obama does not believe that.

Why are we back in Iraq?/Image:AmericanAndProud

Why are we back in Iraq? We are there again because our commander-in-chief is attempting “interventionism.” Perhaps the prior unsuccessful attempts of restraint were persuasive enough to convince our skeptical president to try this “limited intervention.”

Why are we back in Iraq? Our friends in the forces are back in Iraq because when they took the job of working in the military they signed paperwork that pretty much said that whether it makes sense or not they have to go. They have no choice. They signed on the dotted line.  As a Vietnam vet named “John” put it: “We sign a blank check to be sent anywhere to do whatever we’re told.”

Why are we back in Iraq? Now you know.

You ask the questions.  We provide the answers.

American Live Wire . . . Listen and be heard.

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LeBron James Will Become a Free Agent–So Now What?

As many expected, Miami Heat superstar LeBron James has opted to become a free agent and test the waters for a better deal. So what does that actually mean?

@ESPNNBA/Twitter

It could mean a few things.

Heat president Pat Riley has said that he is not surprised that James has opted out of the final year of his deal.

“I was informed this morning of his intentions,” Riley said. “We fully expected LeBron to opt-out and exercise his free agent rights, so this does not come as a surprise. As I said at the press conference last week, players have a right to free agency and when they have these opportunities, the right to explore their options.” 

Soâ€"where does he go?

Pretty much any team that thinks it can afford him will be trying to come up with a package for him. However, at the time there are only six teams that do have the cap space available to sign him without having to cut or trade anyone elseâ€"the Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, Utah Jazz, Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Lakers.

He’s not going to want to lose so Utah, Phoenix, and the 76ers will likely be out. Yes, each has a lot of young talent on their respective squads, but there is too much uncertainly as to whether they will be able to gel.

Dallas could be enticing. Cuban is known for bending over backwards for his players and has been trying to sign a max-contract player for the last two seasons. James would be teamed up with another future Hall of Fame player in Dirk Nowitzki, and the Mavericks completed a trade on Wednesday to bring Tyson Chandler back as well as Raymond Felton.

He would undoubtedly become the focal point of the team, but the question will be whether there will be enough talent for the team to contend. As fans saw in Cleveland James can’t do it all himself.

Any player would have to be interested in playing for the legendary Lakers. As bad as they were last year, if James and Kobe Bryant were to pair up the possibilities would be endless. The question in this case would be whether Bryant would welcome another superstar in to his house.

Miami is still in play of course, but the question will be whether the Heat can bring in enough talent to help win championships. The Big Three of James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh are enough to get them there, but they’ve lost two out of the last four. Wade has already said he is opting out and will take less money to help do just that.

But will it be enough?

Plenty of other teams have been rumored to have interest, but all will have to figure out how to create sufficient space to sign him without giving up too much talent in the process. Among the many teams rumored to have interest are the Houston Rockets, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, and Los Angeles Clippers.

Soâ€"where does he go? No one knows. The one thing we can probably count on is that there will not be another ‘The Decison’ program on ESPN anytime soon.

[B'/R, WashingtonPost]

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Monstrous Triple Black Hole Discovered

Monstrous Triple Black Hole Discovered.

Astronomers have discovered three closely orbiting super-massive black holes in a galaxy more than 4 billion light years away.

This is the tightest trio of black holes known to date and is remarkable since most galaxies have just one at their center (usually with a mass between 1 million to 10 billion times that of the Sun).

Massive Black Hole/ Photo: Daily Galaxy

The discovery suggests that these closely packed super-massive black holes are far more common than previously thought and has been published in the highly esteemed scientific journal Nature.

The team, led by South African Dr Roger Deane from the University of Cape Town, used a technique called Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) to discover the inner two black holes of the triple system.

This technique combines the signals from large radio antennas separated by up to 10 000 kilometers to see detail 50 times finer than that possible with the Hubble Space Telescope.

“What remains extraordinary to me is that these black holes, which are at the very extreme of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, are orbiting one another at 300 times the speed of sound on Earth”, says Deane. “Not only that, but using the combined signals from radio telescopes on four continents we are able to observe this exotic system one third of the way across the Universe. It gives me great excitement as this is just scratching the surface of a long list of discoveries that will be made possible with the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).”

Such systems are important to understand for several reasons; in terms of galaxy evolution it is known that black holes influence how galaxies evolve, and understanding how often black holes themselves merge is key to this work. Furthermore, closely orbiting systems such as this are sources of gravitational waves in the Universe, if General Relativity is correct. Future radio telescopes such as the SKA will be able to measure the gravitational waves from such systems as their orbits decrease.

According to Prof Matt Jarvis from the Universities of Oxford and the Western Cape, “This discovery not only suggests that close-pair black hole systems are much more common than previously expected, but also predicts that radio telescopes such as MeerKAT and the African VLBI Network (AVN, a network of antennas across the continent) will directly assist in the detection and understanding of the gravitational wave signal.

As someone who may not have become a professional astronomer without the support of these initiatives, it is gratifying to be able to produce internationally recognised research following the strong support I have received from SKA SA and the SA Government.

“Four South African institutions (the Universities of Cape Town and the Western Cape, as well as Rhodes University and SKA South Africa) are represented by the research team which is in itself a very positive signal for radio astronomy here. This demonstrates that South Africa has the scientific and technical expertise to be a world leader in this research area and contribute directly to gravitational wave experiments that will provide fundamental insights not only to astronomy, but also more broadly to physics.”

Monstrous Triple Black Hole Discovered.

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Endangered Great White Shark Population on a Rise!

The population of great white sharks off both coasts of the U.S. is once again growing after years on the decline as suggested by a new research.

There are over 2000 great whites living off California-10 times the amount estimated by a recent Stanford University study ventured in a report. Apart from not being able to conclude an exact population size, the scientists on the other side of the country estimations suggests that the sharks in the Atlantic are rebounding, after a significant drop in the 1970s and 1980s because of commercial shark fishing.

Great White Sharks Not Endangered; Population Growing, Says Study
Photo Credit: Flickr

“That we found these sharks are doing OK, better than OK, is a real positive in light of the fact that other shark populations are not necessarily doing as well,” George H. Burgess, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research, explained.

Wildlife preservation efforts over the past two decades has resulted in the upswing after which, conservationists are hesitant to celebrate the news. The great white sharks typically struggle to recover from sharp deadlines in population belongs to a group of aquatic species. Scientists have to rely on guesswork owing to their generally reclusive behaviour and a dearth of historical information does not assist.

“They’re back on the way up, but to be honest, I don’t think any of us know what ‘up’ is,” George Burgess, a Florida-based researcher, added. “The fact is, we have no real idea what [the population] was before we started screwing around with the environment on both coasts.”

The adverse effects of changing ocean climates and marine life ecology were believed to be responsible for the decline in the great white shark population earlier. However, now that the recent findings have pointed out to an increase in the population, there is nothing to worry about.

The findings from this study are now published in the journal PLOS ONE.

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Why Should We Care About The Redskins? – ‘The Why’

Welcome to the latest edition of The Why.   “Why should we care about the Redskins?” you ask? Actually, this question has obviously been a long time in coming.

With the exception of the first coverage last month you the readers have demonstrated that a comparatively small number of you are really interested in this issue. (Your perpetually provocative penman doesn’t think anyone cares about Mike Tyson in general anymore so that didn’t help either but still the question did not come as a surprise.)

The Washington Redskins/Image: RedskinsHogHeaven

Why should we care about the Redskins? We should care because it seems that those deemed politically Incorrect are now actually outside the protection of our legal system. The controversy over the over whether the name of the Washington Redskins is offensive or not initially held little interest beyond it being a more interesting story to cover than which team beat which other team.

Why should we care about the Redskins? Once you finish reading this column you’ll understand. As Sports Writer Robert Tracinski noted: the US Patent Office ruling hinged on the suspect argument that the word “redskins” is a slur against Native Americans. He went on to suggest that we might have to “rename the state of Oklahoma, which drew its name from Choctaw words that mean ‘red people’.” He also suggested that we “petition the US Army to decommission the attack helicopter it named after a people it defeated in 1886.”

The Redskins aren’t the only ones playing a sport nowadays. Tracinski agrees that ’name-bullying’ has also become a sport for “self-aggrandizing political activists, because if you can force everyone to change the name of somethingâ€"a sports team, a city, an entire race of peopleâ€"it demonstrates your power.”

The Washington Redskins/Image: KeepCalmoMatic

Think about it: Just how much more powerful are you if you can force others to change a name for no reason other than because they’re afraid you will revile them? No one even questions it.

The word “redskin” has an equivocal history. The opinionâ€"even among Native Americansâ€"over whether it is offensive is a judgment call.

Why should we care about the Redskins? The issue is subjective. Our government would be smart if they’d stay out of it and let market pressure and “private persuasion” work it out.

The trouble is the only reason the patent ruling went down is because the prior campaigning against the Redskins failed in the “court of public opinion.” As Tracinski puts it: “The issue has become the hobby horse of a small group of lefty commentators and politicians in DC, while regular Washingtonians, the people who make up the team’s base of fans and customers, are largely indifferent. So the left resorted to one of its favorite fallbacks. If the people can’t be persuaded, use the bureaucracyâ€"in this case, two political appointees on the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.”

The Washington Redskins Cheerleaers/Image: TheBrigadeAechive

Why should we care about the Redskins? We need to care about the redskins because our system is dependent upon the” impartial administration of the laws by the executive.” In this particular case, our executive officials decided that a privately-owned business does not “deserve” the protection of the law.

Why should we care about the Redskins? If the US Patent office ruling survives a court appeal, our government will no longer prosecute criminals who violate the Redskin’s property rights thereby costing them (potentially) millions of dollars.

Why should we care about the Redskins? As Tracinski pointed out: “(the) bureaucrats in Washington are now empowered to make subjective decrees about what is offensive and what will be tolerated, based on pressure from a small clique of Washington insiders. Anyone who runs afoul of these decrees, anyone branded as regressive and politically incorrect, is declared outside the protection of the federal government.”

Why should we care about the Redskins?  We should care simply because it is happening. We should care because we have no clue where it will end or even IF it will end.

Why should we care about the Redskins? Now you know.

You ask the questions.  We provide the answers.

American Live Wire . . . Listen and be heard.

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3 Off-duty Officers Rescue Florida Couple After 14 Hours Treading Water

Three off-duty officers on a fishing trip rescued a Florida couple who had been treading water for 14 hours after falling from their boat in Key Largo, Fla.

The Broward Sheriff’s Office said two detectives and a firefighter/paramedic were fishing for dolphins Saturday morning approximately seven miles off the shore of Hallandale Beach when they saw what looked like fish jumping or birds feeding on the surface of the water.

(FOX59 Twitter) Sean McGovern and Melissa Morris were rescued after 14 hours of treading water Saturday.

As they approached closer, they realized it was actually a man treading water and waving his T-shirt in their direction. Next to him was his wife, also treading water.

The three officers and a civilian who was fishing with them helped the Florida couple out of the water and onto their boat.

Sean McGovern, 50, and Melissa Morris, 52, told them they had fallen off their boat in Key Largo about 14 hours prior on Friday. The boat was in gear and pulled away from them, leaving them stranded in the water for 14 grueling hours.

The couple appeared to have mild hypothermia and some jellyfish stings, BSO said.

“They are very lucky â€" they didn’t have any signal device,” said U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Mark Barney. “They were trying to signal people down with their T-shirt. To be located and recovered by off-duty cops and a firefighter â€" that’s a stroke of luck right there.”

“We saw birds diving,” said Adam White, a detective. “As we got closer, I saw fish jumping. We saw a white male with his shirt flagging us down.”

“We checked them out, made sure they were stable,” White said.

The four fishermen then passed the Florida couple over to the Coast Guard, which carried them to the Fort Lauderdale Coast Guard Station. Friends picked them up from there.

“A lot of people don’t wear life jackets because they don’t have intention of being in water,” Barney said. “It was a miracle they were able to tread water that long and were safely recovered.”

The Coast Guard stated that the couple’s boat washed up onto the beach in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday afternoon.

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2 Chain-Reaction Car Accidents Leads To 6 Deaths On I-95

Two separate car accidents led to six fatalities on Interstate 95 near Jacksonville, Fla. the Florida Highway Patrol said Sunday.

The crashes took place late Saturday night in Flager and St. Johns counties and closed sections of the busy interstate into Sunday morning.

(Wikipedia)

The Florida Times-Union reported that two people were killed in a three-vehicle crash south of Palm Coast Parkway in Flager County around 5:30 p.m. Saturday and four people were killed in an 11-vehicle crash around 7:30 p.m. at Mile Marker 301 in St. Johns County.

Officials said a Jacksonville teenager and a St. Augustine woman died in the first car crash, just south of Palm Coast Parkway near exit 289 â€" which involved two trucks and a car. A 2001 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 driven by Roy White, 38, of Jacksonville, hit the top of a 2008 Honda Civic being driven by Pamela Thor and struck the right of a 2005 Chevrolet Silverado, which caused 17-year-old Michael Smith of Jacksonville, a passenger in the 2001 Silverado, to be ejected form the vehicle. All three vehicles eventually came to a stop on the west shoulder of the highway. Smith and Thor were killed in the crash.

Officials have not yet released the names of those that died in the second crash, which involved a total of 11 vehicles.

The newspaper reported that the first crash occurred when the driver of a pickup truck over-corrected after drifting towards the shoulder of the highway and struck a guardrail.

The second crash took place after traffic backed up from the earlier crash and southbound traffic was being detoured around the scene of the accident. A commercial truck struck the back of a stopped vehicle triggering a series of collisions and a fire that engulfed several of the vehicles.

2 Chain-Reaction Car Crashes Leads To 6 Deaths On I-95

The Florida Department of Transportation is set to inspect the interstate on Sunday and do emergency repairs.

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How Did Tony Gwynn Die? Baseball Hall of Famer Dies at 54 from Cancer

Baseball Hall-of-Famer Tony Gwynn dies at 54-years-old after battling salivary gland cancer. The 15-time All-Star, who spent his entire 20-year career with the San Diego Padres, was diagnosed with cancer back in 2010.

How Did Tony Gwynn Die? Baseball Hall of Famer Dies at 54 from Cancer â€" photo from Wikipedia

After the news of his death was released, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement:

“Major League Baseball today mourns the tragic loss of Tony Gwynn, the greatest Padre ever and one of the most accomplished hitters that our game has ever known, whose all-around excellence on the field was surpassed by his exuberant personality and genial disposition in life…

“For more than 30 years, Tony Gwynn was a source of universal goodwill in the National Pastime, and he will be deeply missed by the many people he touched. On behalf of all of our Clubs, I extend my deepest condolences to Tony’s wife Alicia, their son Tony Jr. of the Phillies, their daughter Anisha, the Padres franchise, his fans in San Diego and his many admirers throughout Baseball.”

Tony Gwynn was best known for being a great hitter as he earned 3,141 hits and a .338 batting average. The 5 time Gold Glove Award winner also was known for being a solid fielder as well. Gwynn was inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007 with Cal Ripken. Nicknamed Mr. Padre due to his loyalty with the San Diego Padres, Gwynn retired from the game in 2001. He spent the remainder of professional career as the head baseball coach for San Diego State University.

While the majority of the family has remained silent about his death, Gwynn’s son, Tony Gwynn Jr., an outfielder for the Philadelphia Phillies, tweeted:

“Today I lost my Dad, my best friend and my mentor. I’m gonna miss u so much pops. I’m gonna do everything in my power to continue to… Make u proud!”

How Did Tony Gwynn Die? Baseball Hall of Famer Dies at 54 from Cancer.

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STUDY: Great White Shark Numbers Are Surging!

STUDY: Great White Shark Numbers Are Surging!

A report that scientists are calling one of the most comprehensive studies of great white sharks finds their numbers are surging in the ocean off the Eastern U.S. and Canada after decades of decline â€" bad news if you’re a seal, but something experts say shouldn’t instill fear in beach goers this summer.

The study by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists, published this month in the journal PLOS ONE, says the population of the notoriously elusive fish has climbed since about 2000 in the western North Atlantic.

“The species appears to be recovering,” said Cami McCandless, one of the authors. “This tells us the management tools appear to be working.”

Great white sharks owe much of their fearsome reputation to the movie “Jaws,” which was released 39 years ago Friday. But confrontations are rare, with only 106 unprovoked white shark attacks â€" 13 of them fatal â€" in U.S. waters since 1916, according to data provided by the University of Florida.

Photo: Pinterest

“You should be concerned for a good reason,” said James Sulikowski, a professor of marine science at the University of New England in Portland, who was not involved in the study but noted it could help better target future conservation efforts for great whites. “We need these sharks in our waters.”

A separate study published in PLOS ONE this month suggested that great whites â€" also known just as white sharks â€" are also returning to abundance in the eastern north Pacific Ocean.

“There’s this general pattern of where the white sharks are protected, they seem to recover,” said Tobey H. Curtis, one of the authors of the Atlantic study.

The elusive nature of white sharks and the lack of historical data about their population levels required the authors to rely on sightings of sharks, as opposed to other ways to count sea life, such as commercial fishing surveys and census counts, Curtis said.

The research adds recent unpublished data to previously published records to establish 649 confirmed white shark sightings from 1800 to 2010. The data show that a period of decline in white shark abundance during the 1970s and 1980s has reversed, the authors said.

White shark abundance in the western North Atlantic declined by an estimated 73 percent from the early 1960s to the 1980s, the report says. Shark abundance is now only 31 percent down from its historical high estimate in 1961, the report states. The report does not provide a local estimate for the great white shark population, which some scientists say is between 3,000 and 5,000 animals.

The report also illuminates where people encounter white sharks â€" mostly between Massachusetts and New Jersey during the summer and off Florida in the winter, it says.

They also migrate based on water temperature and availability of prey, and are more common along the coast than offshore, the report states.

STUDY: Great White Shark Numbers Are Surging!

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Why Is The US Government Working To Get Rid Of GPS? – ‘The Why’

Welcome to the latest edition of The Why.

Everywhere you look the media is pushing you telling you who to follow, what to watch and when to watch it.   You’re even sometimes told how to do it all.  Truth is, here at American Live Wire we do a bit of that too.  The big difference is we also tell you why.

You ask the questions.  We provide the answers.

“Why is the US government working to get rid of GPS?” you ask? Ah, someone has been keeping up on current events! Yes, it’s true that DARPA or the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has a lot of projects they are working on for the Department of Defense. One of them involves GPS (Global Positioning Satellites).

Why is the US government working to get rid of GPS?/Image: GPSRegistrar

DARPA has, in fact, been working for the government since 1958. It has been instrumental in the creation of a lot of technological marvels including the Internet which was at one time called the ARPAnet. They have also been behind such things as unmanned aerial vehicles, Spider-man tech and both animal-form and humanoid robots.

Then why is the US government working to get rid of GPS? Wouldn’t that be something that’s right up their alley? Yes, it would.

In fact, GPS is something else in which they have been involved. The newest pet project is named C-SCAN and reportedly has the theoretical “potential to improve” and maybe even “replace GPS.”

Why is the US government working to get rid of GPS? They are trying to get rid of the “old” GPS to make way for the new and improved GPS.

Why is the US government working to get rid of GPS? They are trying to get rid of GPS because they might be able to perfect something better.

Don’t hold your breath though, boys and girls. Word on the web is that this is a relatively old idea. According to one online poster the trouble “is that integration error builds up very rapidly (because it is actually “double integration”). . . “So you have to keep resetting the position estimate.”

Why is the US government working to get rid of GPS?/Image: EndTheLie

While the folks at DARPA feel they can deal with this issue, many outside the system who have studied in the field believe that while C-SCAN has potential in terms of weapons systems use the inertial guidance devices that DARPA is involved with require “resetting” due to the fact that the timing isn’t “of the required accuracy” and very well may never be. Obviously, without truly “accurate time none of the rest of it works unless it is reset by the GPS system” ergo it seems impossible to “get rid of GPS. “

Why is the US government working to get rid of GPS? They are doing so because they currently have the funding to try. They are doing so because “hope springs eternal.”

Why is the US government working to get rid of GPS? Now you know.

You ask the questions.  We provide the answers.

American Live Wire . . . Listen and be heard.

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Robotic Surgery Could Fix Birth Defects Within The Womb

Robotic Surgery Could Fix Birth Defects Within The Womb. Image courtesy rawstory.com

Robotic surgery could fix birth defects within the womb, specifically spina bifida. The surgery will also target fetuses with twin-twin transfusion syndrome.

Worldwide spina bifida affects one in 2,500 newborns, who are born with an underdeveloped spine. The spinal cord is exposed in the womb due to a lesion on the back. It often leads to many learning disabilities and even death in some cases.

The twin-twin transfusion syndrome is where unequal amounts of blood passes between twins, who share a placenta and fetal lower urinary tract obstruction. This keep the babies from being able to urinate in the womb causing the bladder to become large and swollen.

The robotic technology is reportedly a small robotic arm. Surgery for spina bifida is often performed a little too late or when the unfortunate symptoms have already damaged the child.

The revolutionary surgery is only performed in limited areas of the world. Specialist teams have to be present in order for the surgery to be performed.

UCL Center for Medical Image Computing, Professor Sebastien Ourselin says, “Most birth defects can be prevented if we can intervene early. But currently, surgical delivery systems are not available and operating on babies in the womb is reversed for just a handful of the most severe defects as risks are too high.”

The $17 million dollar project is funded by the Wellcome Trust and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. The device takes 3D images with its photoacoustic camera. It helps better service the robotic arm, which places gels and patches on the gap on the fetus with spina bifida.

The surgery has to be done within the first 26 weeks of pregnancy, to be as safe as possible. There are dangerous side effects and many mothers have declined to have the surgery. Pre-term labor is also a fearful risk for mothers. Ourselin would prefer mothers do the surgery no later than 16 weeks to be even safer.

“We want to go in at 16 weeks to provide the greatest benefits to patients and no one is doing this yet,” said Ourselin. “The most important thing is to reduce the invasiveness of the procedures as you want to avoid causing pre-term labor. If we can make this possible, we want to expand treatment to be possible for all diseases which are already present at birth.”

Robotic Surgery Could Fix Birth Defects Within The Womb

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Patent Office Cancels 6 Redskins Trademarks

In a 2-1 ruling today the U.S. Patent Office decided that the Washington Redskins six federal trademarks using the word Redskins should be cancelled because they deemed the established team name “disparaging of Native Americans.” The recent concern follows a recent campaign that has garnered some attention over the past several months.

Dan Snyder, owner of the Redskins, cites decades of tradition and refuses to change the team name despite the more recent politically-correct climate. Civil rights organization, a group of lawmakers from both parties and President Barack Obama have made the news urging Snyder to accede to their demands.

Washington Redskins/Image: DCSK

The Redskins will not lose any trademark protection. In fact, the decision does not even apply to the team’s logo. Furthermore, the Redskins will retain all rights during an expected upcoming appeal.

The current decision means that the Redskins are still permitted to use the name but the team could lose a great deal of their legal ability to protect their financial interests related to the use of the name. It would be more difficult to stop any unofficial use of the name Redskins by merchandise counterfeiters.

The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board made a similar decision in 1999 that was overturned in 2003. The court then ruled that the plaintiffs should have filed their complaint shortly after the Redskins registered the team name in 1967.

This new case was started in 2006 by a group of young Native Americans. They claimed that the Redskins should have their federal trademark protection taken away from them based on a statute that reportedly prohibits registered names that are contemptuous, disparaging, disreputable or scandalous. It went before the board last March.

One of the plaintiffs from last year’s hearing, Suzan Shown Harjo, told the press she was “thrilled and delighted” with this new decision. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said: “Daniel Snyder may be the last person in the world to realize this, but it’s just a matter of time until he is forced to do the right thing and change the name.”

Reid had also stated prior to the decision that he would not attend home games as long as the team retained the name Redskins. He had no comment on Redskins supporters concerns that Reid and other politicians should be focused on the country’s “real problems”. The Redskins plan on releasing a statement “later in the day.”

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FDA Steps In, Considers New Implant For Severely Obese

June 17, 2014

A new implant designed to curb the appetite by electrically stimulating stomach nerves is under review Tuesday by a key advisory committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The device is aimed at severely obese adults who have failed to slim down using traditional methods, but don’t want, or can’t have, weight-loss surgery, the manufacturer, EnteroMedics Inc., said in its application for FDA approval.

In the United States, more than one-third of adults are obese, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This increases their risk of serious health issues such as heart disease, diabetes, depression and cancer, experts say.

Despite this, “we have very few tools at our disposal compared with other chronic diseases,” said Martin Binks, an associate professor at Texas Tech University who will testify before the FDA panel on behalf of the Obesity Society.

Photo: Pinterest

“We certainly are encouraged by the FDA’s recent willingness to review treatments for obesity, and we’re hopeful the FDA will give a fair hearing and evaluate the device based on the merits,” Binks said.

The Maestro Rechargeable System, as it’s called, sends electrical signals to nerves around the stomach that help control digestion. These signals block the nerves, decreasing hunger pangs and making the person feel full, the St. Paul, Minn., manufacturer said.

In clinical trials, obese people with a Maestro implant lost an average 8.5 percent more weight than others who received a fake implant, the device maker said.

“The Maestro Rechargeable System is a safe and effective treatment option for obese individuals who have failed more conservative weight reduction interventions such as diet/exercise and pharmacotherapy, but are not able or willing to undergo more aggressive bariatric surgical options,” the device company said in FDA briefing papers.

The implant’s safety and effectiveness will be evaluated by the gastroenterology and urology devices panel of the FDA’s Medical Devices Advisory Committee.

The Maestro consists of a “pulse generator” surgically implanted under the skin of the chest wall. This delivers high-frequency electrical pulses to leads laid along two trunks of the vagus nerve, which helps control the function of many organs in the abdomen.

The device is intended in use for people with a body mass index (BMI) of at least 40, which is extremely obese. BMI is a measurement of body fat based on height and weight.

EnteroMedics said the Maestro also could be used in people with a BMI of at least 35 who have health problems related to their obesity and have failed to lose weight through other programs. (A BMI of 30 is the threshold for obesity.)

FDA Steps In, Considers New Implant For Severely Obese.

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Why Do We Sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” When We’re Already There?

Welcome to the latest edition of The Why.

Everywhere you look the media is pushing you telling you who to follow, what to watch and when to watch it.   You’re even sometimes told how to do it all.  Truth is, here at American Live Wire we do a bit of that too.  The big difference is we also tell you why.

You ask the questions.  We provide the answers.

“Why do we sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ when we’re already there?” you ask?  You think you got us with one of those one-liners again.  Nah. Your investigative author loves George Carlin.  The line goes back to at least 1995.

Why do we sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ when we’re already there?/Image: NIUEdu

So, why do we sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ when we’re already there? For readers who aren’t hardcore baseball fans, let’s review first. Wikipedia and other sources reveal that “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” is a Tin Pan Alley tune composed in 1908 by Albert Von Tilzer and Jack Norworth.

Interestingly, they wrote it before ever having gone to a game and yet their song went on to “become the unofficial anthem of baseball.” The tune is usually sung by the crowd “during the seventh-inning stretch of a baseball game. “ At some ball parks, the phrase “home team” are replaced with the name o0f the team. This is true of the Philadelphia Phillies, the L.A. Dodgers, the Atlanta Braves, the Milwaukee and several other teams.

Now that we’re all up to speed, why do we sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ when we’re already there?  One Yahoo poster, “thankyoumaskedman”, has attended one or two less than spine tingling games and suggested that people sing the song at a game because “they are trying to imagine a ballgame that is more fun and interesting than the one they are at.”

Why do we sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ when we’re already there?/Image: AmericasWhiteBoy

Sorry. Thanks for playing.   You get the home version of “The Why’ for a consolation prize.

Why do we sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ when we’re already there? One need only consider the lyrics of the song itself. Whether you reference the 1927 re-write or the original 1908 version the answer quickly becomes crystal clear.

Witness the opening lyrics to the original:

“Katie Casey was baseball mad.
Had the fever and had it bad;
Just to root for the home town crew,
Every sou Katie blew.
On a Saturday, her young beau
Called to see if she’d like to go,
To see a show but Miss Kate said,
“No, I’ll tell you what you can do.”

People are in actuality singing a song about a woman who wants to be taken to the ballgame.   The chorus is merely a quote of her request.  Our question focuses solely on the chorus:

“Take me out to the ball game;
Take me out with the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack,
I don’t care if I never get back,
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don’t win it’s a shame.
For it’s one, two, three strikes, you’re out,
At the old ball game.”

Why do we sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ when we’re already there?/Image: DulceCandy

The song is actually perfect for a ballgame when taken as a whole. Perhaps that is why it has become a tradition.

Why do we sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ when we’re already there? Now you know.

You ask the questions.  We provide the answers.

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How Sitting Too Long Can Affect Your Health Dramatically

Do you hunch over a computer screen, spending hours behind the wheel of your car, or plopping down on the couch for an evening of television? Well, we all do it. What do all of those things have in common? Sitting! The bad news is that we are more sedentary than any previous generation. Most adults spend over 9 hours a day doing sedentary activities. Research shows that long periods of sitting down, even for people who are otherwise physically active, take a toll on your health.

Even if you exercise regularly, the hours of sitting add up. You might run for 30 minutes for five days a week, but you spend most of your waking hours sitting. So, it’s quite possible that you are physically active, but still fairly sedentaryâ€"otherwise known as an “active couch potato.” While working out is certainly beneficial to your overall health, it does not counteract the negative effects of prolonged sitting.

Photo: Flickr

What happens when you sit?
Recent animal studies show that prolonged sitting decreases circulation, and the body can start to shut down on a metabolic level. When rats were prevented from moving around their cages, their levels of the enzyme lipoprotein lipase fell. This important enzyme works to break down fats in the body.

The sedentary animals displayed signs of insulin resistance and increased levels of fatty acids in their blood. Most notably, the rats that produced this protective enzyme are the ones whose muscles are actively flexed, such as when standing or moving around. Humans also have lipoprotein lipase enzyme, and when people sit for a long time, studies have shown that their risk of poor heart health, increased weight, and high blood sugar increases.

Moreover a study suggested that it’s not just the length of time that people spend sitting that matters, but also the number of times that we get up and walk around that can influence our health. In the study, people who took small breaks to get up, even as short as a minute long, had smaller waist circumference and lower levels of C-reactive protein than people who didn’t.

One of the most glaring and obvious problems with sitting is that you don’t use much energy doing it. Since you aren’t expending energy, sitting for a prolonged period of time makes it much easier to gain weight and acquire health problems associated with being overweight. Long periods of sitting correlate with poor heart health, inflammation, larger waist sizes, lower levels of HDL cholesterol, and increased levels of triglycerides.

Long periods of sitting can also result in muscle fatigue, aches, and injuries. Holding a fixed sitting position decreases the blood supply to your muscles, which accelerates muscle fatigue.

When you finally leave your chair, you’re more likely to have muscle cramps or strains. Sitting may also cause pressure on the spine, leading to back pain. Slumping over when you sit can contribute to neck and shoulder pain. If you exercise or play sports during non-work hours, the time you spend sitting can catch up with you!

How to sit less:
Whether you’re an active or inactive couch potato, there are steps that you can take to avoid the negative health effects of prolonged sitting. Most important … stand up! Set a timer to go off every 30 minutes. When it beeps, stand up and walk around for a few minutes. Take the stairs during breaks, and walk to a farther restroom. Even standing for a minute to stretch your legs is beneficial. If your employer will allow it, try a standing or treadmill desk, or hold a meeting standing up (it keeps the meetings shorter, too).

Stand while you are eating lunch. Even just small changes, like standing up to take phone calls or walking over to a co-worker’s desk rather than emailing can provide some crucial breaks from sitting. If you reduce sitting by five minutes every hour, you’ve shaved an hour off your total sitting time at by the end of a long day. After work, if you’re watching TV, get up and walk around during commercial breaks. Finally, schedule regular InsideTracker blood analysis to monitor your progress in optimizing your inflammation, triglycerides, and cholesterol markers. It’s a great way to keep motivated to stop sitting and stand up!!

How Sitting Too Long Can Affect Your Health Dramatically.

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Brittany Miles Beat An Eating Disorder And Now Loves Her Curves

Brittany Miles had an eating disorder then began compulsive dieting and exercising after being tormented about her weight in high school. She went from a size 18 to a size 4 and was 15 pounds underweight. Over time, she began to exercise less, eat more and reshape her attitudes toward food and her body. Miles now hosts a site on Tumblr that encourages people to embrace their bodies and reminds them that eating disorders don’t manifest themselves in a certain appearance.

“Our society and my peers told me that I wasn’t lovable when I was fat. That when I was fat, I couldn’t be anything else,” said Miles, now a senior and a biology major at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. “So, I was determined to be the farthest thing from fat possible.”

She began what she called a war against calories, and it quickly spiraled out of control. She limited herself to 400 to 600 calories and did 90 minutes of intense cardio daily. Yet at her lightest, Miles never dropped below a size 4.

“Just because my bone structure stopped me from being the size 00 everyone pictures, doesn’t mean that I wasn’t in an incredibly unsafe and unhealthy place,” she said.

Although she was 15 pounds underweight, no one caught onto her habits because they were too busy praising her for her weight loss.

“We constantly push people to lose weight, but sometimes that’s not right for everyone,” Miles said.

In the United States, some 20 million women and another 10 million men suffer from a clinical eating disorder, such as anorexia or bulimia, according to the National Eating Disorder Association. Many people also struggle with some form of body dissatisfaction or unhealthy eating behaviors that can lead to the development of clinical disorders. Studies suggest half a million teens are suffering from eating disorders, and that their concerns about weight begin as young as 6.

Miles says she didn’t treat her body like she loved it when she began to lose weight.

“I deprived it, punished it and tortured it,” Miles said. “I was convinced that a smaller dress size was the key to happiness.”

Read more: fox40.com

Brittany Miles Beat An Eating Disorder And Now Loves Her Curves.

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$2 Million Bail Set for Mark Irwin suspected of killing Aunt in Bellevue, Washington

April 15,2014

SEATTLE (AP) â€" A King County District Court judge has ordered a 53-year-old man held on $2 million bail in the slaying of the 72-year-old aunt with whom he lived in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue.

Photo: Wikipedia

Mark Irwin was arrested for investigation of second-degree murder in the death of Barbara Irwin. Her body was found Sunday night in her apartment.

Mark Irwin, 53, was ordered held pending charges for investigation of second-degree murder and bail was set at $2 million.

According to the document of probable cause that outlines the police case, relatives said Irwin, who had been living with his aunt, Barbara Irwin, for the past six months, had a history of drug abuse and stealing from the family.

A relative who spoke to Irwin after calling the victim’s cellphone told police Irwin had slurred speech and sounded like he was “using drugs again,” court documents say.

According to Bellevue police, Barbara Irwin’s body was discovered by a family member who became worried after she hadn’t heard from the woman.

The relative went to the victim’s residence in the Twelve Central Square Apartments in downtown Bellevue, used a ladder to climb into the woman’s unit, found her body and called 911, said police spokeswoman Carla Iafrate.

The newspaper says court records show Irwin has a criminal history that includes convictions for robbery, theft and taking motor vehicles.

Bellevue police say the woman’s body was discovered by a family member who grew concerned about her welfare.

Irwin was arrested Monday during a traffic stop.

Court records show Irwin has a criminal history that includes convictions for robbery, theft and taking motor vehicles and was on active supervision with the state Department of Corrections for a 2011 car theft.

It was not immediately clear Tuesday whether Mark Irwin is represented by a lawyer.

 $2 Million Bail Set for Mark Irwin suspected of killing Aunt in Bellevue, Washington.

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YouTube Video Helps Egyptian Government Send 13 To Trial For Sexual Assault

A video posted to YouTube showed men dragging a naked and beaten woman out of Tahrir Square in Cairo Egypt during the Inauguration Celebration of newly elected President al-Sisi. The video helped identify some of those men who were responsible for the crime, but also set off international outrage for the treatment of women in Egypt. The viral nature with which the video took off and caught the attention of rights groups and media outlets has created pressure for the Egyptian government to take action against these crimes. There were reports of multiple rapes and sexual assaults during the gathering for the Presidential inauguration, and event which seems like it should be far removed from sexual violence.

Egyptian courts have announced that they will be sending 13 individuals to trial after being identified by eye witnesses and video footage. This announcement marks a turning point in Egypt’s stance on women’s rights in the recent past, where reports of sexual violence have gone mostly unresolved recently. Egypt had also recently announced new laws that would require those found guilty of sexual violence to spend a minimum term in prison as well as pay a financial fine.

The newly elected President al-Sisi took the time to visit one of the assault victims in the hospital to show his compassion for what happened to the young woman. He vowed that the country would take action against those responsible for her attacks.

Some have speculated that the rise in attacks on women has been meant to deter protests and uprisings, and to specifically target young women who may rally towards equal rights. By being violent towards women, perhaps those who are opposed to women’s rights may have caused enough fear to keep women from rallying in support of one another, out of fear for their personal safety.

In the past Egypt’s courts have been quick to convict people to harsh crimes when there is international pressure. The court’s actions leave many to wonder if their display of justice in times like this is simply done as a circus act, or if there is legal justice and due process involved in these trials.

YouTube Video Helps Egyptian Government Send 13 To Trial For Sexual Assault.

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NASA Sniffs Out Titan

NASA (The National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has put together a “recipe” they can now utilize to simulate the chemistry of Saturn’s moon, Titan. The scientists can now classify once unknown material uncovered by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft in Titan’s halituous haze.

Melissa Trainer of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said: “Now we can say that this material has a strong aromatic character, which helps us understand more about the complex mixture of molecules that makes up Titan’s haze.”

Sanctioned by NASA’s Planetary Atmospheres Program, the team investigated the mixture similar to the way a chef tastes an entrée to ascertain the ingredients. They experimented with different combinations of gases under different conditions. In this way they were able to approximate the original mixture.

NASA sniffs out Titan/Image: LightsInTheDark

The challenge to the NASA group had previously been that Titan’s atmosphere with its dark orange hue could very well have been the result of any number of different chemical mixtures. Once they had exhausted all the possible methane and nitrogen combinations, the researchers chose to add a third gasâ€"benzene. At this point, it was simply a matter of experimenting with other options in the aromatics group â€" a type of hydrocarbon.

Carrie Anderson, Cassini scientist and co-author of the study published in Icarus note that the results were closely reproduced when the first two gasses were combined with a nitrogen-containing aromatic. Joshua Sebree, study leader, stated that this is a scientific first and this is the first time anyone has been successful at “creating with lab experiments this particular feature seen in the Cassini data.”

Their new mixture has given NASA a much better opportunity to understand the exact mixture of elements in the unexplored portions of the atmosphere of Titan. Scott Edgington of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory concluded that the “veritable zoo of complex molecules” will continue to provide researchers with a more detailed idea of “just how complex and wondrous this Earth-like moon really is.”

NASA Sniffs Out Titan

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Canada Cop-Killing Fugitive Evades Arrest After 3 Sightings

A fugitive suspected of killing three Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers was seen three times Thursday but so far has managed to evade arrest despite a massive manhunt taking place in the normally calm east coast city of Moncton, police said.

Justin Bourque, 24, was spotted in three different places around the search area of Moncton, said RCMP Commander Marlene Snowman per ABC News. Police said he is armed with high powered long firearms, ammunition, and other items.

(CTV Atlantic Twitter)

In one of the sightings, he was seen coming in and out of a wooded area, Snowman said.

“He’s capable of moving into the wooded area and out,” she said.

Investigators have yet to determine the motive behind the killings â€" the deadliest attack on the RCMP in nearly a decade. Three officers were killed when responding to a call about an armed man in the north end of Moncton. Two other officers are being treated for non-life threatening injuries.

Snowman said Bourque was not known to police.

“Quite honestly I don’t know where he is at this time,” RCMP Commanding Officer Roger Brown said. “The RCMP family is hurting. As is Moncton, New Brunwick and our country,” Brown added.

Heavily armed RCMP officers are making their way through streets and the woods in search of the missing fugitive, who was wearing military camouflage and carrying two rifles in a picture released by police on Twitter.

Schools and government offices were closed due to the event, and the city pulled its buses off the roads. Mail delivery has also been suspended.

The homicides were the first this year in the safe city of Moncton, a city of 69,000 people and about 180 miles east of the Maine border. RCMP Const. Damien Theriault said the city had no homicides last year.

“We have been blessed until this point,” Theriault told The Associated Press.

Canada Cop-Killing Fugitive Evades Arrest After 3 Sightings

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