- See what happens when you senselessly crack down on the cultivation of opium in a Third World country like Afghanistan? Yes, I’m talking to you, U.S. military and allied forces who have been bombing the living sh*t out of the Afghan countryside looking to eradicate poppy fields because they supposedly help fund the Taliban’s regime. Because of your misguided, malicious efforts, places like Shahran, a remote village in the Hindu Kush region, are suffering. The people of this village have known one currency and one currency only for as long as they can remember: opium. It grew in everyone’s back yard and when they needed currency to pay for anything - food, clothing, supplies - they would simply pick a few grams of opium from their family’s field, tuck it inside a leaf and buy what they needed. But because the Afghani government began to fall in line with the crusade against opium fueled by outside forces looking to combat the Taliban, a ban on opium production was put in place and the government has been freaking militant about enforcing it. Those same villagers whose lives ran on the currency of opium are now forbidden from planting it and their towns are withering away because of it. Opium is all they’ve ever known and with good reason. Afghanistan supplies 93 percent of the world's opium and it makes sense that its economy would rely heavily on it. Besides, this ban is working erratically and unevenly by the sunniest, most optimistic evaluations. Villagers in places like Shahran are angry and they’re speaking out, but the government doesn’t appear to be listening. “Now we don't even have 10 Afghanis ($0.25) to give our children to buy bubble gum," says opium farmer Abdul Hay. "Before they would go into the field and collect the money themselves.” As recently as 2007, opium fields occupied nearly half a million acres in Afghanistan, with the harvest worth about $4 billion - equal to nearly half the country's GDP in 2007. That was before the government kowtowed to international pressure, intensified its efforts crack down on opium farmers and proceeded to ruin the lives of those farmers. Sure, the number of acres planted with poppy dropped by 20 percent last year, but at what cost? The main effect of the crackdown seems to be that 98 percent of Afghanistan's opium is now grown in just seven of the country's 34 provinces. Sadly, one of those places is not Shahran, where residents held a meeting two years ago and agreed to comply with the government ban. Their thanks from that government? Ruined lives and no means to support their village and families………
- Redheads have always been stereotyped as having more of a temper and more of a fiery side, but recent studies show that they may also have a unique characteristic that makes them, well, a little wimpier than the rest of us. These studies indicate that redheads may be more sensitive to pain and may need more anesthetics to numb them. In research published in this month's Journal of American Dental Association, researchers found that painful experiences at the dentist might cause more anxiety for men and women with red hair, which might explain why redheads are twice as likely to avoid dental care than people with dark hair. "Redheads are sensitive to pain," said Dr. Daniel Sessler, an Outcomes Research Department chair at The Cleveland Clinic, in Cleveland, Ohio, and one of the study’s authors. "They require more generalized anesthesia, localized anesthesia. The conventional doses fail. They have bad experiences at the dentist and because of the bad experiences, they could avoid dental care." Sessler, an anesthesiologist, heard consistent talk from colleagues that redheads were tougher to anesthetize and out of those conversations came two studies. The first one, conducted in 2004, found that redheads need 20 percent more general anesthesia than blonds and brunettes. A second study in 2005 revealed that redheads are more sensitive to thermal pain and are more resistant to the effects of local anesthesia. Why? Well, researchers believe variants of the melanocortin-1 receptor gene play a role. This gene produces melanin, which colors skin, hair and eyes. Non-redheads’ genes produce melanin, but those with red hair have a mutation of this receptor that produces a different coloring called pheomelanin, which results in freckles, fair skin and ginger hair. For the redheads reading this, hopefully that explains why you may be a little more sensitive to pain than your non-redhead friends and let you know that the next time you go to the doctor or dentist, you’d be wise to ask for an extra dose of painkillers…….
- One step further from playing in the NFL any time soon and one step closer to an 8 x 10 cell for former New York Giants star Plaxico Burress. I’m not a legal expert, but I’m going to say with confidence that being indicted by a grand jury on weapons charges is something that makes Burress less likely to find a team willing to sign him and put him on the field. That’ll happen when you a) shoot yourself in the thigh at a Manhattan nightclub with an unlicensed gun, b) try to cover the nature of the shooting and your identity up when going to the hospital for treatment and c) face a minimum prison sentence of 3½ years if convicted. Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau sounds pretty happy with himself and the work of the grand jury after Burress was indicted and charged with two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of reckless endangerment. “The grand jury applied the law to the facts of this case," Morgenthau said. Burress’ attorney Benjamin Brafman tried to pass off the grand jury’s decision like it was completely expected and he has everything under control, but you know dude is pissed. He decided to have his client testify before the grand jury last week in a risky attempt to avert just what unfolded yesterday and that ploy failed miserably. Perhaps the only silver lining for Burress is that friend and former teammate Antonio Pierce, who was with Burress in the club and helped him attempt to cover up the shooting, er, drove him to the hospital, was not indicted. He certainly could have been indicted for taking Burress’ gun home with him the night of the shooting and not turning it over to police. Of course, things could also be much worse for Burress had the bullet that struck his leg hit the nightclub security guard who was standing inches away, according to Assistant District Attorney John Wolfstaetter. That being said, the punishment from these charges, because you know Burress is heading to jail, should be more than serious enough to ruin his life for the foreseeable future. He could have avoided all of this by simply making sure that his gun was licensed in New York and in New Jersey, where Burress lived, but he was negligent there and it’s going to cost him somewhere in the neighborhood of a mandatory minimum sentence of 3½ years in prison on the charges he now faces. Methinks that Morgenthau’s offer of two years in prison under a potential plea agreement sounds markedly better to Burress and his attorney right about now…….
- At long last, Nissan gave the world its first look at its much-awaited electric car. The "Leaf" is a hatchback that Nissan Motor Co. will begin selling in the United States and Japan towards the end of 2010. Nissan unveiled the car Sunday at the inauguration of its new global headquarters in Yokohama, south of Tokyo. With the goal of leading the auto industry in the zero-emissions field, Nissan will need the Leaf to be a big success. Mass marketing of the car won't be in full swing until 2012, but the response in the U.S. and other initial release markets should give a good indication of how the car will be received before then. Two more zero-emission models are to follow the Leaf and Nissan expects production to start with around 200,000 units a year at the global roll-out in 2012. "We celebrate today the start of a new chapter of our company's life," Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said after driving a blue Leaf up to the stage. Allow me to translate that from business-speak to the language that the average person would use: Our sales are down the crapper, just like every other car company. We desperately need something to set us apart from the competition and we’re hoping to God that this will be it. Truth be told, it’s an idea that has as good a chance as any in the automobile industry right now. With oil prices topping $60 and the quest for alternative fuels and energy sources ramping up, an electric car that is both affordable and functional would be a huge seller. “We are seeing electric cars not as a niche car but as a mass-market car," Ghosn said after the inauguration. "The big problem is going to be (production) capacity.” He went on to describe the Leaf as a "powerful car, like having a turbo" charger except with no delay in response since there is no gear shift. Nissan won't be the only car company venturing into the electric car field, as Toyota and Volkswagen have also announced plans to launch electric cars in the next several years. What went unsaid was pricing for the Leaf and its expensive lithium-ion battery that Nissan is considering leasing. As for the car’s performance, the Leaf has a top speed of over 76 mph and a cruising range of at least 100 miles. While I’m sure all of that will be enough to draw in enviro-conscious celebrities like Leo DiCaprio, who can afford the car no matter what its cost, the question is going to remain whether the average consumer can afford it as well……..
- How long has it been since you’ve heard of a truly absurd, offensive lawsuit from someone with an unjustified sense of entitlement? Too long, I’d say. Welcome in Trina Thompson of the Bronx, New York, who oh, so wrongly believes that when a person attends a college or university and earns a degree, that school has a legal right to provide that person with a job immediately upon their graduation. Not a job at the school, mind you, just a job in general. After graduating from New York's Monroe College in April with a bachelor of business administration degree in information technology, Thompson was shocked to find that companies weren’t lining up to hand her a job. Thus, she did what anyone in her position would do - she sued her alma mater for $72,000 -- the full cost of her tuition and then some -- because she cannot find a job. On July 24, she filed suit against the college in Bronx Supreme Court, claiming that Monroe's "Office of Career Advancement did not help me with a full-time job placement. I am also suing them because of the stress I have been going through.” Are you freaking kidding me? The stress that YOU went through? Trina, that’s the same stress everyone goes through, it’s called college. You apply, you get accepted, you attend and fulfill the degree requirements and you earn your degree. Along the way, there are stresses in the form of tough classes, exams, difficult projects and program requirements. You’re not unique or special because you were stressed out by college. Like many colleges, Monroe College offers job-search support to all its students but that support does not guarantee a job and I’m fairly sure that no school would make such a promise because there’s no way they could ever keep it. Those realities didn’t keep Thompson from suing in search of $70,000 in reimbursement for her tuition and $2,000 to compensate for the stress of her three-month job search (Does she want more money for the stress if she continues to not find a job?). All of this is offensive enough, but when you consider Thompson’s academic credentials and performance at Monroe College, the Offensive-O-Meter goes through the roof. She wasn’t valedictorian, summa cum laude or even plain ol’ cum laude. No, she posted a thoroughly mediocre 2.7 grade-point average and a solid attendance record. Yes siree, she was a C+/B- student who showed up for class most of the time and for that reason feels that employers should be brawling with one another to hire her. Could that average GPA be the reason she’s not finding a job? Not according to Thompson, it’s not. She believes Monroe's career-services department has put forth insufficient effort to help her secure employment. “They're supposed to say, 'I got this student, her attendance is good, her GPA is all right -- can you interview this person?' They're not doing that," she said. Seriously? They’re supposed to tell companies who to interview? I don’t know if anyone told you this, but that’s not how the world works. Companies interview and hire who they want, college career-services departments be damned. You besieging companies listed on Monroe's e-recruiting site with cover letters, résumés and phone calls is not going to force them to have you in for an interview. Further insight into Thompson’s twisted point of view can be seen in her claim that that Monroe's Office of Career Advancement shows preferential treatment to students with excellent grades. "They favor more toward students that got a 4.0. They help them more out with the job placement," she said. Again T., it’s not them, it’s you. Companies want to hire those people with a 4.0 because they’re….well, they’re smarter and/or harder workers than you. That’s why they did better in college than you. For an additional lesson on how unfair the world is to mediocre achievers like you, just wait and see how this lawsuit plays out. See, Thompson has not hired an attorney to represent her because she cannot afford one and along with her complaint, she also filed a "poor person order," which exempts her from filing fees associated with the lawsuit. In other words, she’s pursuing this on her own, sans legal council. Chances of winning? I’d put the percentage at even less than her GPA, because 2.7 percent would be far too generous in this case……..
No comments:
Post a Comment