Odd Stories: People Want to 'Save the Vermont Pig"

Montpelier, Vermont - There is a movement to keep the image of a pig on 30 police cruisers.

The image, which is believed to have been on the cars for several years, was noticed last week by a state trooper while he was washing his car. It's thought the pig was placed on the cow by a prison inmate.

After it was announced that the image would be altered back to its original form, a page called "Save the Vermont Pig" was started on Facebook and gained more than 500 "likes."  At this moment however it seems the page has been removed.

Another issue that came up with the design is with the cow.  State law dictates the cow must be red, not red and white, in tribute to the Devon cattle brought to Vermont by English settlers. Two hundred people have signed an online petition.

Vermont Department of Corrections said last week new decals would be made at a cost of almost $800, but state police spokeswoman Stephanie Dasaro said so far none of the offending decals were removed.

Odd Stories: Mom in Central China Gives Birth to 15 Pound Baby

Beijing - A mother in central China has given birth to a 15.52 pound (7.04 kilogram) baby, possibly the largest newborn on record since the country's founding in 1949.

 

The state-run Tianjin Post said Tuesday that the 29-year-old mother in Henan province gave birth to the boy Saturday by cesarean section. It said delivery took just 20 minutes and both mother and the baby, named Chun Chun, are doing fine.

The paper said Chun Chun's parents are average size and there was nothing unusual about his mother's pregnancy or diet.

The paper said it wasn't immediately clear whether Chun Chun made China's record books.

Guinness World Records says the heaviest newborn ever recorded was born to an Ohio woman in 1879 and weighed 23.7 pounds (10.77 kilograms).

Odd Stories: Sauerkraut Causes Shutdown of Road

Friedberg, Germany - A massive traffic jam occurred in Friedberg after a hundreds of packages of sauerkraut spilled onto the autobahn during the morning's rush hour.

The accident happened after the truck crashed into a another vehicle.

Germany's temperatures, as well as most of Europe's, are lower than normal, causing the meats to quickly freeze to the road's surface.

Authorities had to shut down the road for four hours as they tried to remove the sausages from the road.

Odd Stories: Golf Pro Forced Into Apologizing By His Mom.

Doha, Qatar - After his mother caught him swearing on-air, golf professional Lee Westwood was prompted by his mom to apologize after he was caught swearing on a mic.

After he talked with his mother, he sent out the tweet “Sorry about swearing on the 16th tee. Came off like a rocket and thought it was going further! Wash my mouth out! Perils of live tv!”

“My mum was the first person on the phone and she said you might want to apologize. I didn't think that down at four-under-par I would be on TV. It's amazing how sensitive these microphones are,” Westwood told reporters.

Canadian Prime Minister Insists on Building Pipeline

Canada – Prime Minister Stephen Harper continues to pursue a way to ensure the transport of Canada's tar sands oil to China, saying it is “increasingly clear that it is in Canada's national interest to diversify our energy markets.”

Harper's goal goes against the wishes of environmental and aboriginal groups throughout the country, which see it as bad for the environment and native cultures. If the pipeline was to bust, the damage would be catastrophic. Harper however unjustly called the groups “foreign-funded radicals.”

“We have abundant supplies of virtually every form of energy. And you know, we want to sell our energy to people who want to buy our energy -- it's that simple,” he said.

His rhetoric increased after President Obama vetoed the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which goes through the middle of the United States, at least until after the presidential elections.

Despite the unlikelihood of any of the oil from the tar sands arriving within the next decade, China's expressed its strong interest in buying the oil from Canada.

Harper praised the country's business model which made it become an economic powerhouse in the span of a few decades, saying it “shown the world how to make a poor people rich” despite the human costsit has on its citizens. He also predicted China would soon become the world's largest economy.

TV and Radio Networks Fight Public Disclosure of Income from Political Ads

By Noel Brinkerhoff

 

United States - An effort by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to create more transparency for political advertisements is being opposed by television and radio networks.

 

Under current law, broadcasters must maintain a “public inspection file” that the public can review in person to learn, among other things, who is buying airtime for political ads.

 

The FCC now wants to require TV and radio stations to make these files available online so citizens can obtain the information without having to travel to the stations.

 

But organizations like the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) object to the new rule, claiming the posting of the file content on websites would prove to be “a new burden” and, in a particularly lame argument, would “provide no clear new benefit to the public.”

 

Between July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2011, the NAB and its employees donated $549,450 to the campaigns of members of the U.S. House of Representatives and, over the past six years, $383,423 to members of the U.S. Senate.

FBI Warns that People Who Use AOL at Internet Cafés Could be Terrorists

By Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

United States - America Online users beware: If you access your AOL account from a computer at an Internet café, your name may wind up on a terrorist-watch list.

 

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), AOL users at public computer venues are just one possible type of suspicious person that business owners need to keep tabs on.

 

The FBI has been distributing flyers to paintball centers, banks, dive shops and even tattoo shops to educate them on how to spot potential terrorist activities.

 

In addition to noting who is accessing AOL, Internet café owners should watch out for and report customers who always pay for their service with cash, attempt to shield their screen from other people in the room, communicate through video games or use VOIP, all of which are signs of a would-be terrorist, says the FBI.

 

The flyers do remind business owners and their employees that “It is important to remember that just because someone’s speech, actions, beliefs, appearance, or way of life is different; it does not mean that he or she is suspicious.”

Why are Americans Arrested for Videotaping Police in Public Places?

By Noel Brinkerhoff

 

United States - Recording police officers while making arrests has resulted in numerous other arrests … of those daring to tape such actions.

 

In October 2007 attorney Simon Glik was arrested by Boston police after he used his cell phone to capture the arrest of young man who was punched by an officer. Claiming the audio recording of the arrest violated the law, police took Glik to jail. On January 5 of this year—more than four years later—the Boston Police Department finally sent Glik a letter admitting that its officers are acted unlawfully when they arrested him.

 

In Rochester, New York, last year, Emily Good was arrested after videotaping—from her own front yard—the arrest of a man at a traffic stop. The arresting officer, Mario Masic, accused Good of being “anti-police” after she refused to stop recording the arrest. The charge against Good was later dropped.

 

In Illinois, a 1960s-era law is coming under scrutiny as Chicago prepares to host the G8 and NATO summits, which are expected to attract large numbers of protesters and journalists. As currently written, the state law allows police to arrest any citizen on felony charges for recording the conversations of police without their consent.

 

The ACLU argues that the Illinois Eavesdropping Act is out of date and over the top.

 

One state lawmaker, Democratic Representative Elaine Nekritz, has proposed an amendment that would allow for the recording of police on duty in public places.

Scientists Melt Mystery Over Icecaps and Sea Levels

By David Fogarty

Worldwide - U.S. scientists using satellite data have established a more accurate figure of the amount of annual sea level rise from melting glaciers and ice caps which should aid studies on how quickly coastal areas may flood as global warming gathers pace.

John Wahr of the University of Colorado in Boulder and colleagues, in a study published on Thursday, found that thinning glaciers and icecaps were pushing up sea levels by 1.5 millimeters (0.06 inches) a year, in line with a 1.2 to 1.8 mm range from other studies, some of which forecast sea levels could rise as much as 2 meters (2.2 yards) by 2100.

Sea levels have already risen on average about 18 centimeters since 1900 and rapid global warming will accelerate the pace of the increase, scientists say, threatening coastlines from Vietnam to Florida and forcing low-lying megacities to build costly sea defenses.

To get a better picture of the pace of the melting, Wahr and colleagues used a satellite that measures variations in gravity fields to study changes in the mass of large ice-covered areas. The data covered 2003-2010.

The glaciers and ice caps included those in the Arctic, South America, Asia as well as Greenland and Antarctica.

Globally, the rate of sea level rise has accelerated in recent decades to reach about 3.5 millimeters a year, with more than half coming from thermal expansion of the oceans.

Water expands as it gets warmer.

While the creeping annual increase might seem small, the rate of sea level rise is expected to grow. Yet scientists have struggled to refine estimates given the uncertainty about the future pace of global warming, growth trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions and the rate at which ice caps will melt.
Using satellite data instead of more limited and time-consuming data from ground measurements was crucial, Wahr said in an email to Reuters.

The team found that loss ice from Greenland and Antarctica was pushing up sea levels by just over one millimeter a year, comprising most of the 1.5 mm annual rise.

Glaciers and mountain ice caps elsewhere comprised the rest, at 0.4 mm/yr between 2003-10.

"That's a large number, and represents a lot of melting ice," said Wahr. "But it's at least 30 percent smaller than previous global estimates, none of which have used GRACE," he said, referring to the name of the satellite.

 FASTER MELTING

The United Nations' Climate Panel estimates sea global sea level rise of 18 to 59 centimeters from 1990 to the 2090s. But those numbers do not include melting from polar regions where the vast majority of the world's freshwater is locked away.

Some climate scientists say the rise is more likely to be between and 1 and 2 meters. They point to accelerating melting of the Greenland and West Antarctic icesheets over the past two decades. Both contain enough water to raise global sea levels by about 60 meters.

Other glaciers and mountain icecaps contain enough water to raise sea levels by nearly a meter.
GRACE measured the changes to ice mass over regions greater than 100 square kilometers. The data showed ice-covered areas in Asia, including the Himalayan and Karakoram ranges, was much less than other estimates, meaning the region contributed very little to sea level rise, in part because many glaciers were at freezing high elevations.

Wahr said the study gave a much clearer picture of what was happening to large ice-covered areas globally, particularly in remote parts of the Himalayas.

"There are simply too many glaciers, and most of them too remote to access, to be able to monitor all of them from the ground. There are more than 200,000 glaciers world-wide," he said, adding only a few hundred have been monitored over time spans of several years or more.

"With GRACE, though, we're able to directly monitor the sum total of all ice loss in an entire glacier system or ice cap."

Ongoing monitoring by the satellite should help scientists get a better handle on the pace of ice melting and sea level rise as the planet heats up.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, all 11 years in the 21st century so far, including 2011, rank among the 13 warmest in the 132-year temperature record.

US Marines in Fresh Controversy Over Sniper Team Photo With Nazi SS Flag

From The Guardian

Afghanistan - The US marine corps has confirmed that a sniper team in Afghanistan posed for a photograph in front of a flag with a logo resembling that of the notorious Nazi SS.

Use of the SS symbol is not acceptable, and the marine corps has addressed the issue, Lt Col Stewart Upton said in a statement. He did not specify what action was taken.

Upton said the marines in the photograph, posted on a blog, are no longer with the unit. The picture was taken in September 2010 in Sangin province, Afghanistan.

The photo shows a flag with what appear to be the letters "SS" in the shape of jagged lightning bolts. The symbol resembles that used by SS units in World War II.

The SS, or Schutzstaffel, was the police and military force of the Nazi Party, which was distinct from the general army. Members pledged an oath of loyalty to Adolf Hitler. SS units were held responsible for many war crimes and played an integral role in the extermination of millions of Jews along with gypsies and other people classed as undesirables. The SS was declared to be a criminal organisation at the Nuremberg war crime trials.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation in Washington said it was outraged and wants a full investigation.

Mikey Weinstein with the foundation said he has been flooded with calls from former marines offended by the photo and from one member of his organisation who is an Auschwitz survivor.

"This needs to be fully investigated. This is a complete and total outrage," he said.

Weinstein said his organisation was sending a letter to the head of the Marine Corps and defence secretary Leon Panetta.

Master Gunnery Sgt Mark Oliva, a spokesman at Camp Pendleton, California, said the photo was brought to the attention of the 1 Marine Expeditionary Force inspector general in November, and he found there was no intent on the part of the Marines to identify themselves with a racist organisation.

Oliva said the investigation found that the SS symbol was meant to identify the marines as scout snipers, not Nazis, but it was nonetheless not acceptable.
 
This is the second time this year the marine corps has had to do damage control for its troops' actions.

The marine corps is also investigating a separate group of marines recorded on video urinating on the dead bodies of Taliban fighters.

Zimbabawe: Not Prepared for Floods Amid Conflicting Weather Forecasts

by Ignatius Banda

Zimbabwe - Sibongile Dube knows the devastation heavy rain can leave in its wake. A villager in the lowveld area of Mberengwa in Zimbabwe’s Midlands province, Dube’s home is one of many that were washed away by flash floods last year.

'I am still rebuilding my home,' Dube told IPS, pointing to where she has erected a hut that she says serves as her bedroom.

Across the small yard stands a shaky-looking grain storage bin, which has become symbolic of the devastation that swept away thousands of tonnes of grain in last year’s floods.

Hundreds of schools and villages were washed away amid criticism of Zimbabwe’s disaster preparedness and effective early warning systems. This was despite earlier warnings that the floods, which had already left a trail of destruction in their wake in countries that lie along the Zambezi River in Southern Africa, were headed for some parts of the country.

'We were never told that the water would be that bad. We lost livestock and the grain we had harvested,' Dube said, highlighting the plight of thousands of villagers who remain victims not only of natural disasters but also poor early warning and disaster monitoring systems in Zimbabwe.

While rains have only begun to fall in some parts of the country, the Zimbabwe Meteorological Services have given conflicting reports of when to expect it to reach its peak. Initially the service first said December 2011, but then revised this to early January, then again to late January.

Zimbabwe Meteorological Services chief, Tich Zinyemba, has also reversed an adverse forecast issued that warned of imminent floods. He said in late January that the cyclone, which had been expected to reach Zimbabwe last month, had since moved back to Mozambique.

Zinyemba’s latest forecast came despite a warning issued by the Zambezi River Authority that parts of the Zambezi River, which flows through Zimbabwe, would experience floods and advised villagers to prepare for evacuation to higher ground.

This week, experts from the government’s weather services department announced the cyclone from neighbouring Mozambique was no longer headed for Zimbabwe. While villagers are no longer being prepared for the possibility of heavy downpours, for Dube and many others, the threat of rain destroying their homes remains a real threat.

These conflicting weather reports have exposed the country’s lack of preparedness for possible floods.

'We do not know anymore when the rains would fall and how bad it would be,' Dube told IPS, expressing a popular sentiment here as many have lost faith in the reliability of weather forecasts from the meteorological services.

The Civil Protection Unit, a government department responsible for, among other things, evacuating of communities from flood areas, also issued a flood warning last month. The unit has been severely criticised for failing to respond in time to the distress of villagers like Dube, last year.

'There is lack of adequate expertise and the usual lack of resources that is why we even fail to have such things as helicopters to assist our people during floods,' Tymon Ruzende, a disaster preparedness expert who worked with the Red Cross during last year’s floods, told IPS.

'But I also think there is little in terms of preparing communities deal with the prospect of flooding. For example when it is already known the waters will rise, communities must be told to move to higher ground, yet others always resist this,' Ruzende told IPS.

This year, communities that lie along the giant Zambezi basin once again find themselves at the centre of rising waters.

It is here in the Zambezi basin in areas such as Binga, an inaccessible and remote district in northern Zimbabwe, where communities have previously been victim of flooding despite clear signs that the banks would burst.

Jairos Lubimbi, a local councillor, said not much is being done to prepare villagers in the eventuality of floods.

'People here have always lived with floods and it is something which the authorities think is natural and they cannot do anything about saving lives, grain and livestock,' Lubimbi told IPS.

Last month, the Zambezi River Authority told villagers living downstream on the Zambezi to evacuate their homes, but villagers who spoke to IPS said they were still in their homes because 'they had nowhere to go.'

'They tell us to move to higher ground, but do not provide alternative homes for us,' said distraught Taboka Sibanda, a villager.

Floods have already moved from Mozambique into South Africa and according to some media reports, the rising waters have claimed up to 20 lives. Concerns remain about possible localised flooding in Zimbabwe.
Experts say Zimbabwe’s shifting climate patterns that have moved the rain season further into the New Year.

They say that this has made it difficult to prepare for possible floods as the country lacks state of the art weather tracking systems. This comes amid calls by the United Nations for all early warning systems to be community centred.

Your Doctor May Be Lying to You

Washington D.C. - Doctors, one of the most highly-regarded groups of people in the country, are not completely honest with their patients according to a survey published by Health Affairs.

More than half of the doctors surveyed admit to giving a better prognosis about their patients issue than was the truth, a fifth don't fully disclose a medical mistake, and a tenth lied to a patient. The survey, in which more than 1,800 doctors participated, doesn't ask why or what was lied about.

About a third of those surveyed said they didn't completely agree about doctors confessing to any mistakes, which Dr. Arthur Capln said is “Just inexcusable...Your care now has to be different because of what happened.”

Most doctors also state, the study shows, physicians need to fully-informe their patients even though some of them admit to not following up on doing so.

The vast majority of those surveyed agreed that physicians should fully inform patients of the risks, not just the benefits, of treatment options and never tell a patient something that isn't true — even though some admitted they hadn't followed that advice at least on rare occasions in the past year.

Deep-Brain Stimulation and Memory Enhancement

New York - Small zaps of electricity are found to be able to help people learn better according to a study funded by the federal government and the Dana Foundation, an organization devoted to science, health, and education.

Participants in the study played a video game in which they needed to learn the location of several stores in a four-by-four block area. They received small and painless bursts of electricity from tiny electrodes embedded in their brains while learning some of the stores, and none with others.  It's not yet known how long the benefits last.

Doctors add this to possibly several other benefits in which this treatment is used.  So far it's also seen as a possible way to curb memory loss for Alzheimer's patients, help with Parkinson's disease, and depression.

Although the study is a preliminary one - the original reason for the implementation of the electrodes was to help doctors find the reason behind epileptic people's seizures - doctors are seeing it as a good discovery with potential benefits in the future.

"Whethere this will translate into something useful, we do not know...You don't want to do brain surgery on people unless you have a pretty clear idea you're going to make them better," said Dr. Andres Lozano, who wasn't part of the study.

The results is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Is Arch Coal About to Mine Historic Blair Mountain?

By the Sierra Club

Local and National Groups Rally to Townspeople’s Defense

Logan, West Virginia - February 8 - Residents of Blair, West Virginia have noticed increased activity from mining company Arch Coal around the historic Blair Mountain Battlefield site. Members of the town have become more and more concerned about Arch’s activities and fear they are moving forward with plans to mine the Blair Battlefield site. There have been reports of proposed buy outs of resident’s property, increasing industrial activity in the area and other preparations indicative of a move towards mining operations on the battlefield itself. Blair Mountain is the site of the largest civil insurrection in American history since the Civil War. In 1921 more than 10,000 coal miners fought forces backed by mining interests in an attempt to organize unions in Logan and Mingo County.

“In the late 1990s, Arch Coal came through and destroyed much of Blair with one mountaintop removal mining operation. The town went from about 700 people to about 90 today. Mountain top removal poisons the drinking water, destroys communities and makes people sick.” says Friends of Blair Mountain executive director, Brandon Nida, who currently lives in Blair. “For the sake of all that is good and right, we must save the people in this town, protect their homes, and save this historic mountain from the decimation and poison of mountaintop removal mining.”

Arch Coal, the second largest coal producer in the United States, has four planned operations that intrude into the Blair Mountain battlefield. They have already begun operations on the Left Fork surface mine, which sits directly adjacent to the battlefield.

According to retired coalminer Joe Stanley, “We know that they are moving quickly in the Blair area. We know that they have land agents trying again to buy from people who have already refused them. And we know they are blasting on the Left Fork permit. So, time is running out for the people of Blair and the battlefield.”

Appalachian filmmaker and Friends of Blair Mountain board member Mari-Lynn Evans says, “Arch Coal is moving the chess pieces in so that they can come in and blast away our heritage. If we wait until they are on the battlefield, it is too late. And they know that.”

The Battle of Blair Mountain was the largest civil uprising after the Civil War, fought due to protracted grievances between coal miners and the coal operators. It was finally brought to a halt after five days of heavy fighting along the Logan-Boone county lines. Federal troops were called in to quell the conflict.

"Blair Mountain is a national treasure and a critical piece of America's history," said Mary Anne Hitt Director of the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign. "Workers fought and died on its slopes for the simple right to represent themselves and win fair working conditions. We will not stop our fight to defend that land and their memory no matter what tactics Arch Coal may use to try and destroy it."

“Not only is our rich West Virginia history being destroyed by out-of-state coal operators, but the people around me here in Blair are being sickened, blasted, and generally run out of town. It’s not easy watching a town being killed, and unless something is done soon to stop the out-of-control companies, there won't be a Blair left in six months, or a Blair Mountain,” says Brandon Nida.

Salt Intake From Bread Higher Than You Think: Study

Atlanta - It seems high amounts of salt are in many places, and almost a certain thing in processed and canned foods. Now a study reveals bread is the main source of salt in the American diet.


The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released a study that names the top ten sources for salt. Surprisingly junk food such as potato chips, pretzels, and popcorn were at the bottom of the list.

While not the saltiest foods, breads and rolls tend to be consumed by more people than other foods. This means breads and rolls, while they make up just seven percent of an average American's salt intake, can add salt intake at an alarming rate. What complicates matters is different types of the same food, in this example bread, can vary greatly. White bread can have anywhere between 80 and 230 milligrams of sodium per slice and a small bag of potato chips can hold 450 to more than 1,000 milligrams.


The finding that ten simple foods are responsible for slightly more than 40 percent of overall salt intake surprised even CDC officials.

According to the study Americans consume more than 3,300 milligrams of sodium a day, while the recommended amount is 2,300 and even less for some people with health issues.

Rank†	Food category§	Age group (yrs)
		≥2	2–19	2–5	6–11	12–19	≥20	20–50	51–70	≥71
		% (SE)	% (SE)	% (SE)	% (SE)	% (SE)	% (SE)	% (SE)	% (SE)	% (SE)
1	Breads and rolls	7.4 (0.2)	6.9 (0.4)	6.5 (0.5)	7.8 (0.6)	6.5 (0.4)	7.5 (0.2)	7.2 (0.3)	7.8 (0.4)	9.6 (0.3)
2	Cold cuts/cured meats	5.1 (0.3)	4.4 (0.4)	3.4 (0.5)	4.3 (0.4)	4.9 (0.7)	5.3 (0.3)	5.5 (0.5)	4.6 (0.2)	6.0 (0.5)
3	Pizza	4.9 (0.2)	7.3 (0.4)	4.8 (0.7)	7.2 (0.6)	8.2 (0.7)	4.1 (0.2)	5.0 (0.4)	3.0 (0.4)	1.7 (0.2)
4	Poultry	4.5 (0.2)	5.5 (0.4)	5.5 (0.4)	4.7 (0.4)	6.0 (0.6)	4.2 (0.3)	4.5 (0.3)	3.9 (0.3)	2.7 (0.3)
5	Soups	4.3 (0.3)	4.0 (0.2)	5.3 (0.9)	3.6 (0.4)	3.9 (0.4)	4.4 (0.4)	4.2 (0.4)	4.6 (0.7)	5.7 (0.7)
6	Sandwiches¶	4.0 (0.3)	4.4 (0.3)	3.5 (0.3)	3.9 (0.3)	5.0 (0.5)	3.9 (0.3)	4.5 (0.3)	3.2 (0.6)	3.7 (0.5)
7	Cheese**	3.8 (0.2)	3.8 (0.3)	4.2 (0.4)	3.7 (0.3)	3.9 (0.4)	3.8 (0.2)	3.9 (0.2)	3.5 (0.2)	1.8 (0.3)
8	Pasta mixed dishes††	3.3 (0.2)	3.8 (0.4)	4.0 (0.6)	4.0 (0.5)	3.7 (0.4)	3.1 (0.2)	3.4 (0.4)	2.4 (0.5)	2.9 (0.3)
9	Meat mixed dishes	3.2 (0.3)	2.1 (0.4)	—§§	2.2 (0.5)	1.9 (0.4)	3.6 (0.3)	3.5 (0.3)	3.6 (0.7)	4.2 (0.7)
10	Savory snacks¶¶	3.1 (0.2)	4.4 (0.3)	3.4 (0.2)	4.6 (0.4)	4.6 (0.6)	2.8 (0.2)	2.8 (0.2)	3.0 (0.4)	1.6 (0.2)
Mean daily sodium consumption (mg) (SE)		3,266(40)	2,957 (53)	2,245 (54)	2,944 (72)	3,310 (70)	3,372 (48)	3,568 (58)	3,239 (73)	2,658 (77)
Unweighted no. of participants in sample		7,227	2,544	662	901	981	4,683	2,280	1,549	854
Abbreviation: SE = standard error. * The population proportion (%) of sodium consumed is defined as the sum of the amount of sodium consumed from each specific food category for all participants divided by the sum of sodium consumed from all food categories for all participants multiplied by 100. All estimates use two observations per person, take into account the complex sampling design, and use 2-day diet sample weights to account for nonresponse and weekend/weekday recalls. Standard errors of the estimates are in parentheses. † Rank based on population proportions of sodium consumed for overall U.S. population aged ≥ 2 years. Columns for other age groups are ordered by this ranking. Additional information regarding food categorization is available at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6105-table.htm. § Food categories contributing ≥ 3% to overall sodium consumption within specific age groups but not listed among the top 10 contributors were as follows: persons aged 2–19 years, frankfurters and sausages (3.7%) and ready-to-eat cereal (3.2%); 2–5 years, frankfurters and sausages (5.4%), whole and reduced fat milk (4.7%), and ready-to-eat cereal (3.7%); 6–11 years, frankfurters and sausages (4.1%), and ready-to-eat cereals (3.4%); 12–19 years, burritos, tacos, and tamales (4.0%); 20–50 years, burritos, tacos, tamales (3.4%); 51–70 years, salad dressings and vegetable oils (3.5%); ≥71 years, biscuits, muffins, quick breads (3.2%). ¶ Sandwiches as identified by a single WWEIA code. ** Natural and processed cheese. †† Pasta mixed dishes category does not include macaroni and cheese, which is its own category. §§ Data are statistically unreliable; relative standard error ≥ 30%. ¶¶ Includes snacks such as chips, puffs, popcorn, and pretzels.

TABLE 2. Ranked population proportions of sodium consumed* by persons aged ≥2 years, by selected food categories, sex, and selected race/ethnicities — What We Eat in America (WWEIA), National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, United States, 2007–2008
Rank†	Food category§	Sex		Race/Ethnicity
		Male	Female	non-Hispanic white	non-Hispanic black	Mexican-American
		% (SE)	% (SE)	% (SE)	% (SE)	% (SE)
1	Breads and rolls	7.4 (0.3)	7.4 (0.2)	7.9 (0.3)	6.7 (0.3)	5.2 (0.2)
2	Cold cuts/cured meats	5.8 (0.5)	4.3 (0.2)	5.5 (0.4)	4.6 (0.4)	4.1 (0.3)
3	Pizza	5.7 (0.3)	4.0 (0.3)	4.9 (0.2)	5.6 (0.6)	5.2 (0.2)
4	Poultry	4.5 (0.3)	4.5 (0.2)	4.1 (0.3)	7.2 (0.5)	4.5 (0.3)
5	Soups	4.3 (0.4)	4.4 (0.3)	3.6 (0.3)	3.2 (0.5)	6.2 (0.8)
6	Sandwiches¶	4.3 (0.4)	3.7 (0.3)	3.7 (0.4)	6.0 (0.7)	4.1 (0.4)
7	Cheese**	3.7 (0.1)	3.9 (0.3)	4.1 (0.2)	3.0 (0.2)	3.2 (0.2)
8	Pasta mixed dishes††	3.2 (0.2)	3.4 (0.3)	3.5 (0.2)	3.1 (0.2)	1.8 (0.2)
9	Meat mixed dishes	3.1 (0.2)	3.4 (0.5)	3.6 (0.3)	2.3 (0.2)	2.0 (0.2)
10	Savory snacks§§	2.9 (0.2)	3.4 (0.2)	3.3 (0.2)	3.2 (0.2)	2.8 (0.2)
Mean daily sodium consumption (mg) (SE)		3,760 (57)	2,828 (36)	3,324 (49)	3,116 (51)	3,037 (49)
Unweighted no. of participants in sample		3,557	3,670	3,115	1,600	1,407
Abbreviation: SE = standard error. * The population proportion (%) of sodium consumed is defined as the sum of the amount of sodium consumed from each specific food category for all participants divided by the sum of sodium consumed from all food categories for all participants multiplied by 100. All estimates use two observations per person, take into account the complex sampling design, and use 2-day diet sample weights to account for nonresponse and weekend/weekday recalls. Standard errors of the estimates are in parentheses. † Rank based on population proportions of sodium consumed for overall U.S. population aged ≥ 2 years. Columns for other age groups are ordered by this ranking. Additional information regarding food categorization is available at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6105-table.htm. § Food categories contributing ≥ 3% to overall sodium consumption within specific age groups but not listed among the top 10 contributors were as follows: males, frankfurters and sausages (3.3%), and burritos, tacos, and tamales (3.2%); females, frankfurters and sausages (3.3%), burritos, tacos, and tamales (3.2%); non-Hispanic blacks, frankfurters and sausages (5.0%), salad dressings and vegetable oils (2.4%); Mexican-Americans, burritos, tacos, and tamales (6.8%), tortillas (4.7%), and eggs and eggs mixed dishes (3.8%). ¶ Sandwiches as identified by a single WWEIA code. ** Natural and processed cheese. †† Pasta mixed dishes category does not include macaroni and cheese, which is its own category. §§ Includes snacks such as chips, puffs, popcorn, and pretzels.

TABLE 3. Population proportions of sodium consumed* and mean sodium density,† by food source category and age group — What We Eat in America, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, United States, 2007–2008
Age group (yrs)	Food source category§
	Store	Restaurant with fast food/pizza	Restaurant with waiter/waitress	Cafeteria at school/child care center	Other
≥2
Population proportion, % (SE)	65.2 (1.0)	13.6 (0.7)	11.2 (0.7)	—	10.0 (0.5)
Sodium density, mg/1,000 kcal	1,519 (10)	1,848 (16)	2,090 (32)	—	1,676 (21)
2–19
Population proportion, % (SE)	65.5 (1.1)	13.7 (0.6)	6.3 (0.7)	8.1 (1.2)	6.3 (0.5)
Sodium density, mg/1,000 kcal	1,509 (14)	1,745 (20)	1,970 (63)	1,701 (22)	1,501 (58)
≥20
Population proportion, % (SE)	65.1 (1.3)	13.6 (0.8)	12.7 (0.8)	—	8.6 (0.4)
Sodium density, mg/1,000 kcal	1,522 (12)	1,882 (23)	2,110 (29)	—	1,712 (24)
Abbreviation: SE = standard error. * The populat2on proportion (%) of sodium consumed is defined as the sum of the amount of sodium consumed from each specific food source category for all participants divided by the sum of sodium consumed from all food source categories for all participants multiplied by 100. All estimates use two obs2rvations per person, take into account the complex sampling design, and use 2-day diet sample weights to account for nonresponse and weekend/weekday recalls. Standard errors of the estimates are in parentheses. The unweighted number of participants in each sample was 7,227 (2,554 children and 4,683 adults). † A measure that accounts for differences in the amount of calories consumed from foods obtained from each source, defined as mg of sodium per 1,000 kcal. § Food source categories were analyzed from responses to the question, "Where did you get this (most of the ingredients for this) [food name]?" "Cafeteria at school" and "child care center" were combined in one category. Sources other than those shown were combined under "other" and included "from someone else/gift" (3.9% population proportion among those aged ≥2 years), cafeteria at school/child care center (2.1%), and 19 other sources (e.g., vending machine), including "missing," "do not know," and "other/specify" (<1%). For persons not aged 2–19 years, "cafeteria at school" and "child care center" were grouped in the "other" category because <1% reported consumption of sodium from foods obtained at these locations.

TABLE 4. Percent of persons aged > 2 years who consumed the food from the specified food category* and among those persons, the proportion who obtained the food from stores, restaurants, or other sources — What We Eat in America (WWEIA), National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, United States, 2007–2008
Rank	Food category	No. of consumers§	% (SE)¶	Food source category†
				Store % (SE)	Restaurant with fast food/pizza % (SE)	Restaurant with waiter/waitress % (SE)	Other % (SE)
1	Breads and rolls	5,672	79.9 (0.9)	76.4 (1.3)	6.7 (0.8)	8.7 (0.6)	8.2 (0.7)
2	Cold cuts/cured meats	2,469	33.9 (1.2)	78.8 (1.1)	6.5 (1.0)	5.4 (0.9)	9.3 (1.2)
3	Pizza	1,569	21.9 (0.7)	27.2 (3.1)	51.2 (3.5)	13.2 (2.1)	8.4 (1.1)
4	Poultry	3,659	48.3 (1.3)	46.0 (2.4)	26.6 (1.9)	16.7 (1.2)	10.7 (1.3)
5	Soups	1,670	22.0 (1.3)	77.4 (4.3)	—**	12.5 (3.6)	7.5 (1.1)
6	Sandwiches††	1,480	20.6 (1.1)	11.9 (1.2)	84.5 (1.4)	—	3.0 (0.8)
7	Cheese§§	3,833	56.2 (1.9)	72.4 (1.2)	10.5 (1.0)	8.2 (0.6)	8.9 (0.9)
8	Pasta mixed dishes¶¶	1,183	17.6 (0.9)	82.2 (3.2)	—	7.4 (1.6)	8.8 (1.5)
9	Meat mixed dishes	1,417	21.8 (1.4)	76.7 (3.5)	5.4 (1.2)	9.2 (2.3)	8.7 (2.0)
10	Savory snacks***	3,599	50.7 (1.5)	81.7 (1.5)	3.6 (1.0)	2.5 (0.4)	12.2 (1.2)
* Ranked by population proportions (%) of sodium consumed by persons aged ≥2 years. The population proportion (%) of sodium consumed is defined as the sum of the amount of sodium consumed from each specific food source category for all participants who consumed foods within the specified food category divided by the sum of sodium consumed from all food source categories for all participants who consumed foods within the specified food category multiplied by 100. All estimates use two observations per person, take into account the complex sampling design, and use 2-day diet sample weights to account for nonresponse and weekend/weekday recalls. Standard errors of the estimates are in parentheses. Data were limited to the food categories ranked in the top 10 in population proportion of sodium consumed by persons aged ≥2 years. † Food source categories were analyzed from responses to the question, "Where did you get this (most of the ingredients for this) [food name]?" Sources other than those shown were combined under "other" and included "from someone else/gift" (3.9% population proportion among those aged ≥2 years), cafeteria at school/child care center (2.1%), and 19 other sources (e.g., vending machine), including "missing," "do not know," and "other/specify" (<1%). § No. of participants aged ≥2 who reported consumption of at least one food within the selected food category on either day of the two 24-hour dietary recall. ¶ Percentage of participants aged ≥2 years who reported consumption of at least one food within the selected food category on either day of the two 24-hour dietary recalls. ** Data are statistically unreliable, relative standard error ≥30%. †† Sandwiches as identified by a single WWEIA code. §§ Natural and processed cheese. ¶¶ Pasta mixed dishes category does not include macaroni and cheese, which is its own category. *** Includes snacks such as chips, puffs, popcorn, and pretzels.

University Allows Birth Control Pill in Vending Machines

Shippensburg, Pennsylvania - Students at Shippensburg University are now available to buy the “morning-after” pill for $25 from a vending machine thanks to their student government.

The Pennsylvania school's health center provides the pill, as well as condoms, decongestants, and pregnancy tests, to its students, all of whom are at least 17 years old.

For those who worry about someone underage or don't go to the school getting the Plan B pill, there are precautions in place.

“The machine is in a private room in our health center, and the health center is only accessible by students,” said school spokesman Peter Gigliotti. “In addition, no one can walk in off the street and go into the health center. Students proceed to a check-in desk located in the lobby and after checking in are granted access to the treatment area.”

Smoking Possibly Linked to Dementia:Study

England - There yet another reason for you to quit smoking. If you're a man, it could actually ruin your cognitive abilities as you age.

Scientists in England have found men who don't stop smoking may see signs of early dementia even at the age of 45.

“...This study shows it [smoking] has a detrimental effect on cognitive aging and it's as evident as early as 45 years old,” said University College of London's Severine Sabia in the Archives of General Psychiatry journal.

She cites a the possibility the link may be because men smoke more tobacco than women or the link may not have been found in women yet because there's a significantly lower amount of women than men taking part in the study. The average age of those taking part was 56 when they had their first cognitive assessment.

Sabia also discovered men who quit smoking in the 10 years before the first cognitive testing point are still at risk of greater cognitive decline, especially in executive function -- which covers various complex cognitive processes involved in achieving a particular goal. However long-term ex-smokers did not show a faster decline in their brain functions or cognitive abilities.

Sabia said more research is now needed to find out why there was a difference between men and women in this study, and to look into possible mechanisms that might link declining brain function to smoking.

Man Who Got House for 16 Dollars Forced Into Leaving

Flower Mound, Texas - A man who gained some face for getting a $340,000 house for $16 has been evicted, or more accurately willingly left his house.

Kenneth Robinson moved into the house, formerly owned by William Ferguson for $330,000 who abandoned three years later due to his inability to pay for the house. Now however, in a move that's all-too-familiar with people across the country, Robinson lost the house - which he acquired under Texas' adverse possession law - to Bank of America.

The finance giant is seeking possession of the house and asked a judge to give Robinson until February 13th to appeal or leave the house. Instead of appeal he took the option to unceremoniously leave.

Robinson, who states on his website he isn't a lawyer, gave Texas citizens tips on how to stay on adverse possession, some of which was used by people to keep their houses in the face of foreclosure. He says he started a paradigm shift by helping people keep their own or claim abandoned homes, which if they go into disrepair, can bring down the property value of surrounding homes. The website, he says, is to minimize the likely damage the media and others - such as some of his unsympathetic neighbors - would bring to him.

""They think some bum off the street came and paid $15 to get a $300,000 house by filing a piece of paperwork. That is not the case. That is the sum of what happened."

Adverse possession statutes can be found in most states, Brian C. Rider, a real estate lawyer and professor at the University of Texas. Someone who has openly taken charge of abandoned land for an extended period of time — using a driveway on a neighbor's property, for example — could try to claim that land later, he said.

Robinson hasn't been charged with a crime but police said they responded to several calls from his neighbors. One neighbor attended Monday's hearing and was smiling after the eviction was ordered.

"We're going to throw a party," he said.

Obama's Drone Program Includes Targeting Rescuers and Funerals

From Common Dreams

United States/Pakistan - A week after President Obama spoke publicly for first time about the CIA's drone campaign in Pakistan, a new investigation by the Bureau for the Sunday Times in London reports the program has killed dozens of civilians who had gone to help rescue victims or were attending funerals.

Research by the Bureau has found that "since Obama took office three years ago, between 282 and 535 civilians have been credibly reported as killed including more than 60 children. A three month investigation including eye witness reports has found evidence that at least 50 civilians were killed in follow-up strikes when they had gone to help victims. More than 20 civilians have also been attacked in deliberate strikes on funerals and mourners."

The report continues:

    Although the drone attacks were started under the Bush administration in 2004, they have been stepped up enormously under Obama.

    There have been 260 attacks by unmanned Predators or Reapers in Pakistan by Obama’s administration – averaging one every four days. Because the attacks are carried out by the CIA, no information is given on the numbers killed.

    Administration officials insist that these covert attacks are legal. John Brennan, the president’s top counterterrorism adviser, argues that the US has the right to unilaterally strike terrorists anywhere in the world, not just what he called ‘hot battlefields’.

    ‘Because we are engaged in an armed conflict with al- Qaeda, the United States takes the legal position that, in accordance with international law, we have the authority to take action against al-Qaeda and its associated forces,’ he told a conference at Harvard Law School last year. ‘The United States does not view our authority to use military force against al-Qaeda as being restricted solely to”hot” battlefields like Afghanistan.’

What is striking about the report, observes Glenn Greenwald at Salon,

    is how conservative — almost to the point of inaccuracy — is the Bureau’s methodology and reporting. Its last news-making report, issued last July, was designed to prove (and unquestionably did prove) that top Obama counter-Terrorism adviser John Brennan lied when he said this about drone strikes in Pakistan: “in the last year, ‘there hasn’t been a single collateral death because of the exceptional proficiency, precision of the capabilities that we’ve been able to develop.” The Bureau’s July, 2011 report concluded that Brennan’s claim was patently false: “a detailed examination by the Bureau of 116 CIA ‘secret’ drone strikes in Pakistan since August 2010 has uncovered at least 10 individual attacks in which 45 or more civilians appear to have died.” As I noted at the time — and again when I interviewed Chris Woods of the Bureau — their methodology virtually guarantees significant under-counting of civilian deaths (and, indeed, their July, 2011, count was much lower than other credible reports) because they only count someone as a “civilian” when they can absolutely prove beyond any doubt that the person who died by a drone strike was one. The difficulty of reporting and obtaining verifiable information in Waziristan ensures that some civilian deaths will not be susceptible to that high level of documentary proof, and thus will go un-counted by the Bureau’s methodolgy.

The Bureau report, in addition to the number of deaths and tactics involved, puts focus on the 'legal question' of the drone program:

    Naz Modirzadeh, Associate Director of the Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research (HPCR) at Harvard University, said killing people at a rescue site may have no legal justification.

    ‘Not to mince words here, if it is not in a situation of armed conflict, unless it falls into the very narrow area of imminent threat then it is an extra-judicial execution’, she said. ‘We don’t even need to get to the nuance of who’s who, and are people there for rescue or not. Because each death is illegal. Each death is a murder in that case.’

    The Khaisoor incident was not a one-off. Between May 2009 and June 2011, at least fifteen attacks on rescuers were reported by credible news media, including the New York Times, CNN, Associated Press, ABC News and Al Jazeera.

    It is notoriously difficult for the media to operate safely in Pakistan’s tribal areas. Both militants and the military routinely threaten journalists. Yet for three months a team of local researchers has been seeking independent confirmation of these strikes.

And:

    Clive Stafford-Smith, the lawyer who heads the Anglo-US legal charity Reprieve, believes that such strikes ‘are like attacking the Red Cross on the battlefield. It’s not legitimate to attack anyone who is not a combatant.’

    Christof Heyns, a South African law professor who is United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extra- judicial Executions, agrees. ‘Allegations of repeat strikes coming back after half an hour when medical personnel are on the ground are very worrying’, he said. ‘To target civilians would be crimes of war.’ Heyns is calling for an investigation into the Bureau’s findings.