January 17, 2014

The Thing You Do All Day, May Cut Your Life Short:

Yahoo Health:

http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/thing-day-may-cut-life-short-194100937.html

Anyone with an office job can attest to that achy, crampy, stir-crazy feeling of being stuck sitting at your desk all day. What you may not know is that sitting all day can also be deadly, even if you work out regularly, according to the results of a forthcoming study conducted by Cornell University.

The study of 93,000 women found that those who are sedentary the longest during waking hours die earlier than those who are more active. In fact, women who logged 11 hours of sitting time had a 12 percent increase in premature mortality from causes such as cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, and cancer by 13, 27, and 21 percent, respectively.

Sitting wreaks havoc on your health because, when your body stops moving, that causes a decline in metabolic activity and chips away muscle mass, increases insulin resistance (which can lead to diabetes), and, over time, can lead to obesity. Not to mention, it wrecks your posture.

(further down in article)....

The study also found that the effects of constant sitting weren't that different for super-active people. Even those who hit the gym for an hour (even two!) a day faced almost the same odds of premature death as those who didn't work out.

another article about this subject, from Men's Health: "The Most Dangerous Thing You'll Do All Day"

By Bill Phillips and the Editors of Men's Health
Mar 30, 2011
http://health.yahoo.net/experts/menshealth/most-dangerous-thing-youll-do-all-day

First study on exercise vs sitting:

http://www.epi.umn.edu/cvdepi/study.asp?id=13

1953...Known as the London "Busdrivers vs Ticket Taker" study..
Busdrivers sat, vs Ticketakers and money takers, walked up and down all day on the double decker busses. (up and down the stairs, back and forth) They compared the relative health and longevity ...I recall reading the following two ideas. First, The ticket takers had one half the cardio vascular disease as the bus drivers who sat all day. and... on average, the ticket takers lived 14 years longer .....................

oops...it is time to get up and walk around after sitting at the computer for over an hour.....

January 16, 2014

U.S Property Foreclosures Down 26 Per Cent, to a 6 Year Low

Source: Property Channel. Com/ Google News

The number of foreclosure filings in 2013 dropped 26 percent from 2012, to reach the lowest annual total since 2007, according to the latest report from RealtyTrac.

Foreclosure filings -- default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions -- were reported on 1,361,795 U.S. homes in 2013, down from the peak of 2.9 million properties with foreclosures filings in 2010.

Foreclosure starts totaled 747,728 homes in 2013, down 33 percent from the previous year, to reach the lowest annual total since RealtyTrac began tracking in 2006. Foreclosure starts decreased in 2013 compared to 2012 in 37 states. States with the significant decreases in foreclosure starts included California (down 60 percent from 2012), Arizona (down 59 percent from 2012), Colorado (down 58 percent from 2012), Georgia (down 47 percent from 2012) and Michigan (down 42 percent from 2012) -- all non-judicial states. - See more at: http://www.worldpropertychannel.com/north-america-residential-news/us-foreclosure-filings-realtytrac-florida-foreclosures-nevada-foreclosures-bank-repossessions-reo-sales-reo-listings-7892.php#sthash.0yW2xPdo.dpuf

Read more: http://www.worldpropertychannel.com/north-america-residential-news/us-foreclosure-filings-realtytrac-florida-foreclosures-nevada-foreclosures-bank-repossessions-reo-sales-reo-listings-7892.php

January 16, 2014

What Christie Did To Get A Reputation As A Political Bully Even In College

Source: Talking Points Memo

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) is no stranger to accusations of political bullying and backroom dealing like those at the heart of the bridge scandal. TPM has found one of the first times the brash political brawler faced such claims was in the mid-1980s when he was an undergrad at the University of Delaware.

There, student newspaper archives show, Christie was accused of establishing a college political machine that rewarded his friends and drove his classmates out of student government. One fellow student even wrote to the paper to decry Christie's "cronyism" and question the legitimacy of the future governor's reign.

The accusations have have relevance anew now that the potential 2016 presidential contender is facing the biggest turmoil of his career with the uproar over the George Washington Bridge. Democrats in New Jersey have accused members of Christie's administration of using their power to close lanes on the bridge, causing a traffic jam in the town of Fort Lee, N.J. as revenge against the mayor there. Christie's office did not respond to a request for comment


Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/chris-christie-college-political-machine

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Good By Asshole...."I am not a bully".....another quote from article below:
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Though Christie and his future wife seemed to indicate the lack of opposition was beyond their control, others apparently felt there were more sinister forces behind their dominance. In a letter published in the April 27, 1984 issue of the review entitled "Christie cronyism," a self-described DUSC member named Richard Abbott suggested Christie's undemocratic tactics drove others away from student government."

January 14, 2014

Gawker editor: Ailes was having me tailed

Source: Huffington Post/ Capital Pro

Here's something you won't read in Gabriel Sherman's hotly anticipated, scoop-filled book about Roger Ailes: Gawker editor John Cook told Capital he was reliably informed that Ailes, the powerful chairman of the Fox News Channel, had him tailed in 2012.

Cook, 40, has a history of reporting aggressively on the leading cable-news network and its 73-year-old chief. In April of 2012, he published proprietary company information that was leaked to the site by the so-called "Fox Mole," later revealed to be Joe Muto, a former associate producer. Then there was Cook's 2009 ambush of Fox News "ambusher" Jesse B. Watters, and a series of 2011 reports on a Putnam County-based community newspaper owned by Ailes and his wife. One of those stories claimed that Ailes had spied on the paper's reporters.

Cook told Capital that during a private converstion with a former Fox News executive last summer, Cook was asked if he takes his kids, then aged 2 and 4 (he's since added another to the family), to Prospect Park for picnic lunches. Cook replied that yes, he does in fact take his kids to Prospect Park during lunchtime on the weekends. But how would said Fox News insider have knowledge of this, Cook wanted to know?

Cook said that his source, whose name he did not want to appear in this article, divulged that Ailes had commissioned someone (or some people) to tail Cook, and that they had reported back to Ailes on his whereabouts. Cook said this person had first-hand knowledge of the situation and he provided related text messages to Capital documenting that this conversation took place.


Read more: http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2014/01/8538708/gawker-editor-ailes-was-having-me-tailed

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I wonder if this one will get national attention? Roger Ailes is quite a vindictive person it is reported later on in the article. What else is new?

January 13, 2014

Water Is The Enemy, Gatordade Mobil Game Tells Youth

Huff Post:
Nancy Huehnergarth,
posted 1/8/14

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nancy-huehnergarth/water-is-the-enemy_b_4557456.html


If you thought Big Soda's decades-long "War on Water" -- part of their strategy to increase sales of soda and other bottled drinks -- couldn't get any worse, you were wrong. The latest assault, courtesy of PepsiCo, is in the form of a mobile game for youth that brands water as the enemy of athletic performance.

According to a case study video posted on the 2013 Interactive Advertising Bureau MIXX Awards Winners Gallery, bronze award-winner Gatorade took action after learning that teen athletes often choose "to drink water during practice because they thought it provided the proper hydration they needed."

Of course, for all but a minute percentage of youth athletic endeavors (such as a marathon or all-day soccer tournament) water is the ideal choice for proper hydration, but that didn't faze sugary drink brand Gatorade one bit. In an effort to change hearts and minds, as well as further increase parent company PepsiCo's enormous profits, Gatorade brand managers asked media agency OMD to drive home the following message to youth athletes: Gatorade is superior to water.
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So, PepsiCo doesn't make enough money. So it takes on real water. Now Nestles already is taking on real tap water by selling the bottled water variety. So PepsiCo wants Gatorade to join that club. I am not sure, but PepsiCo probably sells the bottled water kind too. Amazing people prefer buying a bottle of this or that for a dime or whatever, instead of pouring it from the tap into a container.

Well it is their money, not mine. I still use the tap stuff.

January 11, 2014

Seeking Redemption, Somtimes With Familiar Ring: New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/01/10/nyregion/redemption-speeches.html?_r=0


By BILL MARSH, ALICIA PARLAPIANO and WILSON ANDREWS JAN. 10, 2014

Gov. Chris Christie’s lengthy press conference on Thursday had many echoes of previous political moments of regret. Herewith, strung together, apologies culled from notable speeches and statements made in the aftermath of wrongdoing or other officeholder embarrassments.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++(long list to follow)

I rise today to deliver a very difficult speech. : Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, 2009

I'll lay it out. It's going to hurt. And we'll let the chips fall where they may.: David H. Petraeus, former C.I.A. director , 2013

I join you keenly aware that I am regarded in a different light now than I was a year ago.:
Rep. Randy Cunningham of Calif., 2005

In recent weeks, serious questions have been raised about my conduct in office. ... I welcome any and all appropriate investigations.
Senator Richard M. Nixon of California, 1952

......more....at link............................................

January 10, 2014

Talking Points Memo has front pages of NJ and New York newspapers :

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/christie_apology_front_pages

Catherine Thompson – January 10, 2014, 8:30 AM EST
_____________________________________________________________________

interesting to look at all at once..

January 9, 2014

"I Am Not A Bully"....That is it...He said that, Good By Asshole..

Now he said that, and there will be many to prove him wrong, on that one. People will come forward, and discuss that one. One lie, begets another and another. The liars cannot keep it straight..That is what they do. This, as much as the bridge stuff, will put him away....Why?? Because that is another lie. And there is much proof...beyond any doubt, that he is a bully. and guess what???


Most people.... Do not like bullies!!

Good by Asshole, Bully

January 9, 2014

Meryl Streep Honors Emma Thompson, Slams Walt Disney

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/08/meryl-streep-emma-thompson-walt-disney_n_4562983.html

from Huffington Post:

important quotes from the article:

•"Ezra Pound said, 'I have not met anyone worth a damn who was not irascible.' Well, I have — Emma Thompson. Not only is she not irascible, she's practically a saint. There's something so consoling about that old trope, but Emma makes you want to kill yourself because she's a beautiful artist, she's a writer, she's a thinker, she's a living, acting conscience."

•"Disney, who brought joy, arguably, to billions of people, was perhaps ... or had some racist proclivities. He formed and supported an anti-Semitic industry lobbying group. And he was certainly, on the evidence of his company's policies, a gender bigot."


•"...Which brings me to awards season. Which is really ridiculous. We have made so many beautiful movies this year, and to single out one seems unfair."
________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Now, most of us know Disney was anti-Semitic, but few have ever publically stated it in this way, in front of millions. Also, his company was well known as "a gender bigot" but, that is another thing that is not well known. She took on a man that is considered a genius and icon in the industry. (let alone, his company is a major player in the media today) This statement is incredible and courageous. Meryl Streep is also a "saint" for using this stage to tell the truth....

January 6, 2014

Health Care Spending Growth Still Very Low

Source: CNN Money

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

America continued to curb its spending on health care for the fourth year in a row.
By Tami Luhby @Luhby January 6, 2014: 4:08 PM ET

Spending on health care grew by only 3.7% in 2012, continuing a streak of the slowest growth rates on record, according to data released Monday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The report looked at all spending on health care services, including doctors, drugs, hospitals and nursing homes, and research nationwide. It also breaks down who is doing the spending: consumers, Medicaid, Medicare and insurers.

Spending remained restrained due to the weak economy. People continued to pull back on medical care amid a continued weak job market and providers sought to keep prices in check. The Affordable Care Act had minimal impact, as many of the health reform's major provisions had yet to kick in.


Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/06/news/economy/health-care-spending

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I disagree with the third paragraph of this story, I think that ACA had some impact that helped keep spending down. That statement is an opinion, of the writer, rather than a fact proven. Why did providers keep prices in check?.. Still it is news, prices are very stable.