- Am I completely off base, or wasn’t there already a drug specifically designed to help with insomnia? In fact, I’m fairly certain it’s called alcohol. So why is the U.S. Food and Drug Administration even bothering to approve a drug called Intermezzo (zolpidem tartrate sublingual tablets) for use as needed to treat insomnia? The disorder, characterized by middle-of-the-night waking followed by difficulty returning to sleep, plagues millions of Americans and this is the first time the FDA has approved a drug specifically for the condition. The FDA said in issuing its approval that Intermezzo should not be taken if alcohol has been consumed or with any other sleep aid, but it just makes sense that if a person consumes enough alcohol, they shouldn’t need Intermezzo at all. Sure, the excessive daytime sleepiness and lack of energy caused by insomnia can be a pain in the ass and those affected by the disorder often have trouble focusing on tasks, paying attention, learning, and remembering and tend to be anxious, depressed, or irritable, but wouldn’t a beer or six fix all of that? Zolpidem tartrate was first approved in the United States in 1992 as the drug Ambien, but it has been altered slightly in Intermezzo, which is a lower dose formulation of zolpidem. The FDA recommends 1.75 milligrams for women and 3.5 mg for men, taken once per night and in a lower dose for the ladies because their bodies clear zolpidem from their system “For people whose insomnia causes them to wake in middle of the night with difficulty returning to sleep, this new medication offers a safer choice than taking a higher dose of zolpidem upon waking,” said Robert Temple, M.D., deputy center director for clinical science in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “With this lower dose there is less risk of a person having too much drug in the body upon waking, which can cause dangerous drowsiness and impair driving.” Before approving Intermezzo, the agency did its due diligence and Intermezzo was studied in two clinical trials involving more than 370 patients. After using Intermezzo, patients in both studies experienced a shorter time to fall back asleep after waking compared to people taking a placebo. And hey, they only suffered side effects including headache, nausea and fatigue. Coincidentally, those are the same effects getting really drunk tends to have on a person. Taking Intermezzo gives you all of that without the fun of spending a night as a stumbling, slurring, goofy drunk. Sounds like a lose-lose…………
- Wow……who could have seen this one coming? A former American Karaoke contestant shows up somewhere for a “live” performance and is exposed as a lip-syncing fraud? No way! Given the prevalence of lip-syncing and general phoniness of reality karaoke shows like AK, the real miracle would be a former contestant appearing on stage and a) sing live, b) have music that doesn’t suck and c) not single-handedly setting the music industry back 50 years. But big ups to former AK contestant Scotty McCreery, who showed up Thursday as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in Manhattan to “sing” his latest song, “The Trouble With Girls.” Ignoring the reality that the problem is not with girls but rather with his hack-tacular attempts at song, McCreery perched atop a festive float and his “song” began. The only problem? His lips weren't moving. Uh-oh! Video of the embarrassing incident quickly hit the Internet and millions got another hearty holiday laugh as they heard the opening lyric, “The trouble with girls,” then saw McCreery awkwardly attempt to get his mouth moving as quickly as possible to mitigate the damage. He quickly raised the microphone to his lips and the director of the TV broadcast reacted like a pro in having the parade cameras zoom out, but it was too late to save McCreery’s sorry, lip-syncing self. But hey, when you’re a country pop karaoke show hack getting ready for a tour with the likes of Brad Paisley, properly preparing for a measly parade attended by hundreds of thousands and viewed by millions more around the world clearly takes a back seat. McCreery also spent time butchering the national anthem prior to Game 1 of the World Series last month, so he’s been busy. In his defense (not that he deserves it), but he is far from the only performer to lip-sync at the parade…..he’s just really bad at it and got exposed as a result. Fear not for him, as his 15 minutes will be up soon and he’ll fade into obscurity before you know it………….
- It was headed this direction for quite some time. The real question was when the world would arrive at this point. In the end, the answer to the question of when Black Friday will officially go from a bunch of pathetic, no-dignity-having kooks camping out and trampling each other for discounted electronic and toys at massive chain stores the day after Thanksgiving to all-out assault and hand-to-hand combat is 2011. Credit an unidentified woman at a Wal-Mart in Porter Ranch, Calif. as the one who definitively drove this point home by pepper spraying fellow shoppers to get an edge in the race to the toy department or home electronics - wherever this ass hat was headed. Either way, police were called and officers described the incident as a deliberate attempt to get more "door buster" merchandise. "This was customer-versus-customer 'shopping rage,'" said Los Angeles Police Lt. Abel Parga. "She was competitive shopping." Competitive shopping? Really? Because that sounds a lot more like a delusional nut job who has lost touch with reality, checked out on humanity and taken a blow torch to what remained of her soul. Even worse, the woman reportedly used the pepper spray multiple times "to gain preferred access to a variety of locations in the store," said Los Angeles Fire Capt. James Carson. Seriously, who says to themselves and their friends prior to heading out for some Black Friday shopping, “Look, it’s going to get ugly in there. People will be pushing and shoving and I need to protect myself. Has anyone seen my pepper spray? What about my truncheon and billy club? Oh, and don’t forget my Glock.” Maybe you carry pepper spray in case someone attempts to mug you on your way out of the store or in the parking lot, but in unprovoked assaults on fellow shoppers because they had the angle on you to get to Aisle 42B first? Several Wal-Mart shoppers complained of minor skin and eye irritation and sore throats and police are searching for the woman. They are having difficulty getting a clear description of her, but one would imagine that with the plethora of security cameras around the store the search should eventually prove fruitful. Finding one person amidst the chaos in the fight for $5 Bratz dolls, $10 Wii video games and $29 tricycles could take some time, obviously. One witness recounted the insanity of the scene as the pepper spraying and general mayhem occurred. "I heard screaming and I heard yelling," said shopper Matthew Lopez. "Moments later, my throat stung. I was coughing really bad and watering up." Ah, another cherished holiday memory for the ages……………
- Thanksgiving football in Detroit was supposed to be different this year. The Lions host a noon game every single Turkey Day and for the previous seven seasons, they have lost in what can usually be described as embarrassing and non-competitive fashion. Rolling into the game with a 7-3 record and legitimate playoff hopes, the Lions were supposed to be a different team and give the nation a game it could enjoy from a competitive standpoint against the unbeaten Green Bay Packers. For 2.5 quarters, that premise held up. Near the end of the third quarter, it unraveled as the hands of the man who has been at the center of a never-ending series of controversies and allegations of dirty play since he debuted in the NFL last season. Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh was ejected from the game after he stomped on Packers offensive lineman Evan Dietrich-Smith. Replays showed Suh and Dietrich-Smith scuffling on the ground briefly after a play deep in Detroity territory, with Suh thrice pushing Dietrich-Smith’s head into the ground. When other Packers players pulled Suh up from the ground and attempted to restrain him, he then stomped on Dietrich-Smith’s upper right arm. Officials saw the act and immediately ejected Suh from the game. Making matters worse, his temporary loss of his mind came after an unsuccessful third down pass play and had he not stomped Dietrich-Smith, the Packers would almost certainly have attempted a field goal and at best, increased their lead to 10-0. Instead, the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty gave the potent Packers offense first and goal from the Detroit 1 and they proceeded to score a touchdown and use the motivation from Suhs indefensible assault to rout the Lions. Although the final score was 27-15 thanks to two late Detroit touchdowns, it was 24-0 at the end of the third quarter and the outcome was never in serious doubt. Suh was still in denial after the game and took a defiant tone in the postgame press conference when asked about the incident. "I want to apologize to my teammates, my coaches and my true fans for allowing the refs to have an opportunity to take me out of this game," Suh said. "What I did was remove myself from the situation the best way I felt, with me being held down." Fine….except Dietrich-Smith wasn’t holding you down. You were on top of him and then he remained on the ground as you were pulled away. Suh continued to lie by insisting he didn’t intentionally stomp anyone. "My intention was not to kick anybody, as I did not, removing myself," he said. "I was on top of a guy, being pulled down, and trying to get up off the ground -- and why you see me pushing his helmet down, because I'm trying to remove myself from the situation, and as I'm getting up, I'm getting pushed, so I'm getting myself on balance." On balance? Wow. Balancing yourself by putting cleat marks in someone’s arm is a new tactic, for sure. It seems safe to say that Suh should be missing a few games based on the precedent set in October 2006, when then-Tennessee Titans defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth drew a five-game suspension for stomping on former Dallas Cowboys center Andre Gurode's head. Oh, and the day ended with an eighth straight Thanksgiving loss for the Lions, so some things clearly do not change………….
- Ah, the sweet smell of media freedom - sort of. It’s a small (and possibly meaningless) step, but two Zimbabwe commercial radio stations were issued licenses to compete for the first time with the country’s lone government-owned broadcaster loyal to the president/dictator Bob Mugabe. Zimbabwe's state broadcasting authority announced the decision on the licenses Friday, but independent media watch groups complained nonetheless on the grounds that the new stations were not fairly chosen because the licensing decisions were made by officials appointed by the information ministry controlled by Mugabe's party. The two lucky recipients of broadcasting licenses were Zimbabwe Newspapers, publishers of the main pro-Mugabe daily Herald, and ZiFm. The Herald will launch a talk radio channel, while ZiFM is operated by a black empowerment campaigner and ardent supporter of Mugabe's party who says his new station will go on air within six months. Fair or not, the licensures were a long time coming. They were a part of coalition deal with the former opposition in 2009 designed to end the three-decade monopoly of Mugabe's Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corp. However, finding an end-around to circumvent the spirit and letter of the new law clearly proved difficult and it wasn’t until now that Mugabe’s regime figured out how. It took mere hours for opposition leader and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party to decry the licensing decisions as an unacceptable betrayal of the power sharing deal. "This is a sad day for the media and showcases the brazen and deliberate undermining" of Tsvangirai's authority in the coalition, his spokesman Luke Tamborinyoka said. Why? Just because ZiFM is owned by a media firm headed by Supa Mandiwanzira, who was named by Mugabe's party as a likely parliamentary candidate for elections proposed next year? Or because the government has owned the majority stockholding in the Herald since the 1980s when Mugabe's party took a near-total control of its journalists? Let’s not be hasty in judging just because of irregularities in the selection of members of the board that issues licenses. Just appreciate the fact that these sham licenses were the first issued since independence from colonial-era rule in 1980 and be happy…..or not…………
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