Marathon Tweeter

For all the wacky tweeters you have heard of tweeting while during the halftime of an NBA game of in the football locker room, I personally have never heard of someone tweeting a live broadcast in the middle of a sporting event.

Joseph Tame beats them all with his live broadcast and tweets from 4 consecutive IPhones during the 2011 Tokyo Marathon. He states he wants to take live sports cover to a new level. "I want to see if I can take it over the top to a new level" says Tame. As grueling as it was, he says it was worth changing how people view sports.

With friends controlling and updating his feed, Tame gets comments and encouragement from followers all around the world. Within his broadcasts, Tame describes runners breaking down and how they are handling the grueling race.

Tame built a contraption all by himself as he is described by his friends as a "bonified techy". He wants to bring each mans road race to an every mans road race.

In my opinion, he was very creative in his idea and mechanics, but in no way will it catch on to others sports. He meant well in all his innovation and for that I give him his props.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/sports/2011/02/27/lah.marathon.man.cnn?iref=allsearch

Forestry commission spends thousands on gas during red flag alert

South Carolina forest commission wrote 107 tickets for outdoor burning violations during the red flag fire alert from february 18 to 22

the forestry commissoin spent $25111.40 on gasoline. spokespersons released a statement "this may not include avgiation fuel, but it should be very close,

in all, forestry firefighters fought 303 wildfires in which 2o structures burned and accumulated over 450,000 in damages. Dry windy conditions prompted the forest commission to issue the alert. it reminds you tot call thyem before you burn. its against the law.

subjects caught can be fined up to 10 years in jail and or all of the expences derrived from the fires.
http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=58585

Deaths of baby dolphins worry scientists

This article that i found was posted on CCN's website. The main concern that was discussed in this article was surrounding the "Deepwater Horizon rig explosion last April, which killed 11 workers and caused the worst oil spill in U.S. history, there has been heightened concern over the environmental impact."

Scientists have found several dolphin carcasses stranded on beach shores. Some scientists are pointing to toxic algal blooms that occur during the spring/summer months where the coastal waters become warmer, but the majority if the science communities are pointing to this disaster... what do you think? killer algae or oil residue?

Being Bilingual Beneficial?

In this article it discusses the possible benefits of being bilingual. There are several studies comparing monolinguals and bilinguals. Being bilingual can make people better at multitasking because the brain is still processing both languages while speaking one of them because it helps the bilinguals ignore irrelevant information and focus on what they need to get out.

Along with multitasking, it's also been studied that as people's bodies begin to naturally decline with old age, bilinguals tend to maintain better cognitive function. It's even noticeable in people with Alzheimers. Even though the brain has damage to the tissues, bilinguals are still able to function.

Learning a second language is easier as a child than when one is an adult is not only because of the brain. A child has all the time in the world to focus on learning two languages because that's all they are doing when they are little, but adults have other activities and educational worries the older they get. Is it worth having your child learn a second language when they are little?

The studies say there are no costs to learning a second language. I would highly consider it for anyone with children.

US Considers Improving Patent Office

This story from the New York Times talks about how the US gov't is considering re-evaluating the patent office, and possible changes that might be put in place. The patent office has remained largely unchanged since it was established, and still had the majority of its patent applications in physical form until three years ago. Patents sent in can stay filed for months or years before being processed, long after the original opportunity had vanished. The number of patent applications is constantly growing, from 950 a day in 1997 to more than 2000 a day this year. Despite this staggering growth, the number of examiners has only increased by 25% over the last few years, and the backlog of patents is constantly growing. Although the office makes a lot of money from application fees, congress continues to divert its profit to other projects, rather than allowing it to use the money to improve or hire more people.

I definitely think a change in the way patents are handled is needed, especially with things like software patents. The patent office was originally set up to help inventors have some control over their inventions. Today, it's mostly used by large companies to protect their profits. Because of the way patents work, many companies find it easier to patent a large amount of software, and then make money by suing companies that try to use similar software, or through licensing fees. Despite never actually creating the product, the companies have the rights to it awarded to them by the patent office, and can profit off patents without actually making anything. Although change would be a good thing, the article mostly talks about improvements in the efficiency of the office. The continuing growth of technology is making the old patent office more and more obsolete, and I think a complete overhaul would be a more appropriate solution

Major Triggers of Heart Attack: Alcohol, Coffee- and Sitting in Traffic

Heart attacks are up there as one of the most scary and common causes of death in the U.S. right now. There are several reasons for why they are so common, chief among them being the eating and daily habits of Americans. However, over the years studies have shown that aside from our personal factors, environmental factors can have just as big of, if not a larger impact on our risk of having a heart attack.

The major contributors? Stress and air pollution. In this article from Time.com, it is noted that studies occured in both Belgium and Switzerland, which attributed these, along with other factors, for increases in the rate of heart attacks in a population.

And where are stress and air pollution most frequent? In traffic, the highway in particular, where there are not air pollution limits like there are in cities. It is thought that the constant exposure to these elements in the daily person's life could lead to serious risks down the road.

While I do not doubt that both of these influence our health, I find it hard to understand how the researchers got their results. To truly get a number indicating the risk of heart attack based on the lives of the inhabitants of a certain country, you would have to isolate them completely, leaving them with nothing to do to influence the experiment except for when they drive. And such a study could take years if someone were crazy enough to try it.

Plus, these studies occured in Switzerland and Belgium. These aren't exactly the highest population centers of the world. So what does it mean for America? Are these numbers reliable? I would say they aren't. Once again, I completely agree that these factors affect our health and risk of a heart attack. I just think that the study is a bit ridiculous.

Three Adopted Children Suffered Horrific Abuse

Three adopted children were found to be living in "inhumane conditions" and potentially may never fully recover. John Kluth and Sonja Kluth have been the legal guardians of three malnourished juveniles; a 9 year old girl and two boys, 11 and 15 year old boys. The three children are originally from Wisconsin where they were foster children. The Kluth's have been receiving $1,500 a month per child from the state of Wisconsin for being their guardians'.

The Kluth's have been accused of burning the children with hot spoons, choking them and locking them "in the storm shelter behind the residence for long periods of time with only chairs and plastic buckets for bathroom use. It is alleged that the Kluth's deprived the children of meals for punishment and fed them cat food and dog food". The older boy said all three had their tongues burned with a hot spoon for lying.

The couple, who surrendered Tuesday, were released on bond for $9,000 each.

There are a lot of questions that may never be answered about this case but it is important to gather as much information as possible. How is this just now being discovered if the severity of abuse is so traumatic? Has child support been doing there job? Who is to blame? These are our tax dollars paying for the "neglect" of the adopted children for so many years. We need more domestic care organizations available to support anyone in need. This is why Saving Grace is a great non-profit organization that offers support to anyone experiencing domestic violence.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/02/24/oklahoma.abuse.case/index.html?hpt=T2