PETA wants monument honoring chickens killed in Georgia truck wreck

Posted on February 7, 2014 by GCD

By Mike Morris

GAINESVILLE, Ga. — We’ve all seen the wooden crosses and other roadside memorials to loved ones killed in automobile accidents. Three years ago, the Georgia Department of Transportation, deeming the makeshift memorials a distraction to drivers and a safety hazard, began offering to place state-approved memorials at the sites of fatal wrecks.

For a $100 fee, GDOT places a white sign with the name of the deceased under the words, “Drive Safely, In Memory.”

Wednesday, a member of PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, filed an application with GDOT to have a memorial placed at the Hall County site where a truck hauling live chickens overturned on Jan. 27.

Veterans dying because of health care delays

Posted on February 6, 2014 by GCD

(CNN) — U.S. veterans are dying because of delays in diagnosis and treatment at VA hospitals.

At least 19 veterans have died because of delays in simple medical screenings like colonoscopies or endoscopies, at various VA hospitals or clinics, CNN has learned.

That’s according to an internal document from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, obtained exclusively by CNN, that deals with patients diagnosed with cancer in 2010 and 2011.

The veterans were part of 82 vets who have died or are dying or have suffered serious injuries as a result of delayed diagnosis or treatment for colonoscopies or endoscopies.

The Kiss of Life

Posted on February 6, 2014 by GCD

by Rocco Morabito

This 1967 award-winning photo entitled “Kiss of Life” shows two power linemen, Randall Champion and J. D. Thompson, at the top of a utility pole. They had been performing routine maintenance when Champion brushed one of the high voltage lines at the very top. These are the lines that can be heard “singing” with electricity. Over 4000 volts entered Champion’s body and instantly stopped his heart (an electric chair uses about 2000 volts).

His safety harness prevented a fall, and Thompson, who had been ascending below him, quickly reached him and performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He was unable to perform CPR given the circumstances, but continued breathing into Champion’s lungs until he felt a slight pulse, then unbuckled his harness and descended with him on his shoulder.

Thompson and another worker administered CPR on the ground, and Champion was moderately revived by the time paramedics arrived. Champion survived and lived until 2002, when he died of heart failure at the age of 64. Thompson is still living.

Rocco Morabito (November 2, 1920 – April 5, 2009) was an American photographer who spent the majority of his career at the Jacksonville Journal.

Morabito won the 1968 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography for “The Kiss of Life”, a Jacksonville Journal photo that showed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation between two workers on a utility pole. Randall G. Champion was unconscious and hanging upside down after contacting a high voltage line; fellow lineman J.D. Thompson revived him while strapped to the pole by the waist. Champion survived and lived until 2002, when he died of heart failure at the age of 64; Thompson is still living. The photograph was published in newspapers around the world.

He served in World War II in the Army Air Forces as a ball-turret gunner on a B-17. He returned after the war and worked for the Journal for 42 years, 33 of them as a photographer, until retiring in 1982. He died on April 5, 2009 while in hospice care.—WikiPedia

Man-in-undies sculpture causes a stir at all-girls college

Posted on February 5, 2014 by GCD

WELLESLEY, MASS. — A remarkably lifelike sculpture of a man sleepwalking in nothing but his underpants has made some Wellesley College students a bit uncomfortable, but the president of the prestigious women’s school says that’s all part of the intellectual process.

The sculpture, titled “Sleepwalker,” is of a man in an eyes-closed, zombie-like trance. It’s part of an exhibit by Tony Matelli at the college’s Davis Museum. It was placed at a busy area of campus Monday, a few days before the exhibit’s official opening, and prompted an online student petition to have it removed.

The sculpture is a “source of apprehension, fear, and triggering thoughts regarding sexual assault,” says the petition, which had nearly 300 signtures Wednesday.

Brain function ‘boosted for days after reading a novel’

Posted on February 4, 2014 by GCD

Being pulled into the world of a gripping novel can trigger actual, measurable changes in the brain that linger for at least five days after reading, scientists have said.

The new research, carried out at Emory University in the US, found that reading a good book may cause heightened connectivity in the brain and neurological changes that persist in a similar way to muscle memory.

The changes were registered in the left temporal cortex, an area of the brain associated with receptivity for language, as well as the the primary sensory motor region of the brain.

Neurons of this region have been associated with tricking the mind into thinking it is doing something it is not, a phenomenon known as grounded cognition – for example, just thinking about running, can activate the neurons associated with the physical act of running.

Scrapped for a penny: USS Forrestal, Navy’s first supercarrier, begins final voyage

Posted on February 4, 2014 by GCD

The U.S. Navy’s first supercarrier — the long-decommissioned Forrestal — has begun its final voyage to a Texas scrapyard, after the Pentagon tried to sell it, found no takers and had to pay a penny to get rid of it.

The 1,067-foot ship, which was shut down in 1993 after more than 38 years of service, was being towed Tuesday morning down the Delaware River and along the Eastern Seaboard before crossing the Gulf of Mexico to reach All Star Metals in Brownsville. U.S. Navy officials signed a 1-cent contract with the Texas company in October to dismantle the ship perhaps best known for a 1967 incident that killed 134 and injured more than 300 others, including a young Navy aviator named John McCain.

“We started our departure from the dock at 5:31 a.m.,” All Star Metals President Nikhil Shah told FoxNews.com, adding that the trip should take roughly 17 days. “This is the largest ship that we’ve ever dismantled, and the largest ship the U.S. government has ever awarded to be dismantled. It’s a very big job to us.”

New Jersey Taxes Could Eat Up All Of Peyton Manning’s Super Bowl Earnings

Posted on February 1, 2014 by GCD

Peyton Manning has the opportunity to pull a John Elway and ride off into the sunset as a Denver Bronco after winning his second ring, not that he wants to retire. His career will hinge upon an offseason exam on his surgically-repaired neck, according to ESPN ’s Chris Mortensen. Obviously, the most important implication of the exam will be Manning’s health. But whether his career continues will have an effect on how much tax New Jersey can collect from him for his appearance in the Super Bowl XLVIII.

Should the Broncos beat the Seahawks, Manning—and the rest of his teammates—will earn $92,000. The loser’s share in the Super Bowl is $46,000. So why does Manning’s future beyond February 2 matter to New Jersey? It would seem logical that the Garden State would apply its tax rates on the $92,000 or $46,000 Manning earns for his week in East Rutherford. Unfortunately, we are dealing with tax laws, not logic.

New Jersey, and every other state that imposes a jock tax, taxes players on their calendar-year income from each employer. If the Broncos defeat the Seahawks, Manning’s 2014 playing income to this point would be $157,000 derived from playoff bonuses. If the Broncos lose, his playing income would be $111,000.

If Manning is unable to continue playing, New Jersey would apply its tax rates to his income and multiply that amount by the ratio of 7/33 to determine his tax liability. The 7 in the numerator represents the week he spends in the state practicing and attending required NFL events. The 33 is the total number of duty days performed during the year—31 days in January plus two in February. If Manning is forced to retire, New Jersey will collect approximately $1,575 from him if the Broncos win and $982 if they lose.

Worker Returns $43,000 Discovered In Donated Clothing

Posted on February 1, 2014 by GCD

Once in a while, Tyler Gedelian will find some loose change in the pockets of clothing that was donated to the Goodwill store in Monroe.

But on Wednesday even Mr. Gedelian, the store manager, couldn’t believe the bonanza he found in the pockets of some old suits and a robe. Stuffed in various envelopes were tidy stacks of $100 bills that totaled more than $43,000.

“We might find a quarter in somebody’s jeans,” he said. “But that blows my mind.”

So Mr. Gedelian, 29, immediately acted on his instincts: He called the police. In fact, he didn’t even count the hundreds. Never once did the thought of keeping any of it cross his mind because, he simply said, it’s not his.

Lake Mead is shrinking — and with it Las Vegas’ water supply

Posted on January 31, 2014 by GCD

LAKE MEAD, Nev.—When you head out on Nevada’s Lake Mead, the first thing you notice is a white line. That’s where the water used to be.

What did this look like a decade ago?

“This was all underwater,” said Pat Mulroy, the general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority. “I mean boats were everywhere. There was a whole marina here.”

Mulroy said that the drought began 14 years ago. Satellite photos show the Colorado River, which feeds Lake Mead, is drying up — so the lake is rapidly shrinking. Islands are growing, and boats are floating far from where they once were.

More than 1,800 vets’ records intentionally destroyed or misfiled by 2 clerks

Posted on January 31, 2014 by GCD

The National Archives at St. Louis has shelving that reaches 29-feet high for the storage of military records.

By Robert Patrick
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

ST. LOUIS —More than 1,800 personnel records for U.S. veterans were destroyed or misfiled by two student employees of the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis County, federal criminal court documents show.

One of the student employees, Lonnie Halkmon, 28, was sentenced Thursday to two years of probation and ordered to perform 40 hours of community service. The other, Stanley Engram, 21, is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 7. Both pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of destruction of government records and faced probation to six months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines.

Engram’s guilty plea says that 241 military records were found in the woods near the center on July 3, 2012, with 300 names and Social Security numbers visible on the documents.

The records were traced to Engram, who admitted disposing of the records found in the woods, “abandoning” files in the center and throwing them away at home. In all, he admitted destroying or purposely misfiling more than 1,000 records.

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Tag Archives: National

PETA wants monument honoring chickens killed in Georgia truck wreck

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Veterans dying because of health care delays

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The Kiss of Life

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Man-in-undies sculpture causes a stir at all-girls college

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Brain function ‘boosted for days after reading a novel’

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Scrapped for a penny: USS Forrestal, Navy’s first supercarrier, begins final voyage

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New Jersey Taxes Could Eat Up All Of Peyton Manning’s Super Bowl Earnings

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Worker Returns $43,000 Discovered In Donated Clothing

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Lake Mead is shrinking — and with it Las Vegas’ water supply

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More than 1,800 vets’ records intentionally destroyed or misfiled by 2 clerks

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