Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Yet Another Product to Kill You

According to new research coming out of Australia, drinking just one can of Red Bull can raise your risk of heart problems:

The caffeine-loaded beverage, popular with university students and adrenaline sport fans to give them “wings,” caused the blood to become sticky, a pre-cursor to cardiovascular problems such as stroke. (via Reuters)

This article mentions caffeine several times so I get the impression that they’re trying to link the two. A little further down it says that a can of Red Bull has no more caffeine than a cup of coffee. And then we get this warning:


But Willoughby said Red Bull could be deadly when combined with stress or high blood pressure, impairing proper blood vessel function and possibly lifting the risk of blood clotting.

So is this true of all drinks with caffeine? Is this true of coffee? How many cups of coffee does the average java-lovin’ consumer drink a day? Three? Four? Seven?

Or is there something else in Red Bull - something they fail to mention in the article - that’s causing the problem?

Luckily I hate Red Bull… so I’m not too worried about that part. I just hate half-assed journalism.

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via cdn.stumble-upon.com via Digg
Anyone else think this might be one of the Satanic Woodland Critters from South Park?
If it asks you to build a manger… don’t.

via cdn.stumble-upon.com via Digg

Anyone else think this might be one of the Satanic Woodland Critters from South Park?

If it asks you to build a manger… don’t.

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A mental patient died after workers at a North Carolina hospital left him in a chair for 22 hours without feeding him or helping him use the bathroom, said federal officials who have threatened to cut off the facility’s funding. The state sent a team Tuesday to help Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro draft new procedures to ensure patients receive proper care. An investigator’s report released Monday found that 50-year-old Steven Sabock died in April after he choked on medication and was left sitting in a chair for close to a day at the facility about 50 miles southeast of Raleigh. Surveillance video showed hospital staff watching television and playing cards a few feet away.

Patient dies after being left in chair 22 hours - CNN.com

Really? Is a cut in funding the only thing that happens when a hospital lets a patient die while they play cards and watch TV?

No wonder our healthcare system (and especially our mental healthcare system) is such a mess…

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Tuesday, August 19, 2008
She’s extremely uncomfortable. … She’s been reminded she’s the suburban” mom, Swor told reporters. “There are staff that are extraordinarily kind. There are staff that are singling her out for special attention. There’s nowhere she can go to be alone. There’s nowhere she can go to get peace,” the attorney said.

Fugitive mom ‘uncomfortable,’ wants out of prison - CNN.com

Oh boo hoo. It’s prison, not The Ritz. It’s not supposed to be comfortable. You’re not supposed to be able to find peace. If prison is comfortable and peaceful and beautiful and fun… what’s the point?

Sure… let’s make prison as posh as possible. That’ll encourage people to avoid going there.

If you don’t want to be uncomfortable, don’t do things like sell heroine and escape from prison. It’s actually pretty easy.

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Monday, August 18, 2008
How do you bastards like it when I try to mimic you? (via gsrcharger)
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Sunday, August 17, 2008
via img89.imageshack.us
We know that most warnings like this - on everything from kitchen appliances to OTC medications - are posted as a result of something that someone has previously done with the product.
So you’re telling me that someone went into a museum (granted, the Museum of Sex)… and mounted an exhibit?

via img89.imageshack.us

We know that most warnings like this - on everything from kitchen appliances to OTC medications - are posted as a result of something that someone has previously done with the product.

So you’re telling me that someone went into a museum (granted, the Museum of Sex)… and mounted an exhibit?

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Police in Wichita said it appears a man broke into a house Friday night to wash his clothes but fled in boxers, with his jeans still in the washer. A woman reported that she returned home, found her basement laundry room in disarray and went upstairs to call her husband. That’s when a man wearing only blue boxer shorts came upstairs, grabbed her purse and ran out the door.

Burglar in boxers steals purse, leaves jeans in washer - CNN.com

At least he was wearing boxers…

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Outside a handful of majors — engineering and some of the sciences — a bachelor’s degree tells an employer nothing except that the applicant has a certain amount of intellectual ability and perseverance. Even a degree in a vocational major like business administration can mean anything from a solid base of knowledge to four years of barely remembered gut courses.

For Most People, College Is a Waste of Time - WSJ.com (via mikehudack)

No doubt I learned this the hard way at the hospital. The people with one and two-year certifications and licenses (nurses, COTAs, radiology technicians, etc) make two and three times what those of us with bachelor’s and master’s degrees make. Had I known this before I went to college, I’d have saved myself some time and money and skipped the psychology degree in favor of a two-year nursing or COTA program.

Live and learn, I suppose. Too bad it cost me $30,000 to learn this lesson…

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