Thursday, February 28, 2008

Queens Hero Arrested

New York City police have arrested a cab driver who started out as a hero.

The cab driver turned in an infant to a Corona firehouse, claiming his passenger abandoned the in his back seat. He told cops a male rider asked him the pull over so he could make a phone call and never returned for the child.

Now police say he is lying.

NYPD said the driver never had a passenger in the cab with him. He took the baby to the fire department alone.

It turned out the scheme was to help a Bronx father who said he was not able to take care of the six-month-old.

Police arrested the cab driver, the baby’s aunt and the cab driver’s roommate for all playing a role in abandoning this girl.

Police are still looking for the baby’s parents.

Livery Cab Driver Arrested

More Arrests with Queens Cab Driver

Cab Driver Hero

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Cheap Cocaine Devastates Argentina

Paco, a highly addictive smokable form of cocaine residue, has flooded the streets of Argentina.

This influx in cocaine flow is due to easily penetrated borders, economic hardship and the weakened restrictions for growing coca.

Brazil is now the second largest consumer of cocaine, preceded only by the United States.

Cocaine flows freely because less than 200 federal police officers patrol Brazil’s 2,100-mile border with Bolivia. Drug traffickers have free rein in Argentina’s airspace; radar only covers 10 percent.

“Cocaine is no longer the drug only of the elite, of high society,” said Luiz Carlos Magno, a Brazilian narcotics officer in the São Paulo State Police Department. “Today kids buy three lines of cocaine for 10 reals,” or about $6. For about $1 in Brazil and about $1.50 in Argentina, users can buy enough of the cocaine for a 15-minute high.

Paco is extremely addictive, especially because the high only lasts a few minutes. The high is so intense some users smoke 20 to 50 cigarettes as day.

Paco is more dangerous than its more natural form. It is composed mainly of chemicals and is usually less than 30 percent pure.

Most of Europe has rejected this cocaine because of the drop in quality; because of this the majority of the drug goes to Argentina and Brazil.

Dealers cut the cocaine with agents such as baking powder, boric acid or lidocaine. This process leads to severe health problems like blood clots and all types of infections.

Cocaine Takes Argentinian Streets

Paco Is No Friend

Paco Devastates Country

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Choking "Game" is No Game

Blocking blood and air flow to the body and brain just until passing out in hopes of achieving a "high" is no game. But today, the "choking game" is play to many adolesents.

That is not the biggest problem. Many young people are dying.

"At least 82 children have died in recent years as a result of playing this game," according to the Centers for Disease Control.

The game and it popularity appear to be spreading. Critics say it is because of the internet. It makes information on the game much more accessable.

You Tube has several videos warning against the game but many more on techniques and how to acheive this high.

To spot abusers of this game look for blood shot eyes, marks on the neck, disorientation, and severe headaches.

For the full NY Times story go here.

For the Houston Press story about the chocking game go here.

For more information on games adolesents shouldn't play, visit the GASP site.

What is the choking game?

Monday, February 11, 2008

Huge Art Heist in Europe

What may be the largest art theft in Europe happened Monday, in Zurich.

Three thieves, clad in all black and ski masks strolled into the Emile Bührle Foundation, a private collection just outside of Zurich's city center.

Armed with a gun, one robber ordered staff and visitors to get on the groud. The other two removed four paitings from the walls; Monet’s “Poppy Field at Vetheuil,”


"Ludovic Lepic and his Daughter" by Edgar Degas,

Van Gogh’s “Blooming Chestnut Branches,”


and Cézanne’s “Boy in the Red Waistcoat.”



Their total worth is estimated at $163 million.

The men were seen fleeing in a white car with the trunk open, the paintings there to be seen.

Authorities don't think the theives set out to take these specific paintings. The four that were stolen were all on the same wall. They were also not the most expensive paintings in the gallery.


Last week, two Picasso oils valued at $4.5 million were stolen from a Swiss museum in Pfaeffikon, Agence France-Presse reported.


Authorities do not think these incidents are related.

Bars are Banning Strollers

Most people don't think of a bar as a place to find children. Obviously they haven't been to many of the trendy pubs in NYC suburbs.

Now so many parents are flocking to the local watering holes, the estabolishments have to post signs: No Strollers.






New York does not have a law keeping minors out of bars. It does say if the person is under 16, they must be accompanied by an adult.

With the recent smoking ban in bars, more parents are lugging their children to the local tavern.

The ususal visitors are flustered by the influx of strollers and babies and the owners are taking notice.

More pubs have posted the sign and the outcry from the parents is getting worse. The nurturers don't see anything wrong with their invasion.

Some inns have been forced to take down the No Strollers sign. Neither side is happy.

For more information on this story and others like it: No Babies in the Bars

Bar Bans Strollers

Lift on the Stroller Ban

Children-Free Pub

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Facebook: Check Out Never Leave

Facebook membership is turning out to be a little more sticky than anticipated.

People are comparing Facebook membership to the likeness of gang membership; the only way out is in a coffin.

One can see the little “deactivation” button to cancel the account. But clicking on it is not all the process entails.

In the New York Times article, Maria Aspan wrote that the process is not as easy as it looks.

Aspan said one has to delete everything from the profile, line by line; every wall post, every group membership, every message, everything. And even after this is done, with a simple search, names and proof of membership can still be found.

The only way people were successful with terminating their membership and becoming untractable in the Facebook community was to take serious action.

One man sent the makers of Facebook a link to a video feed where he is seen discussing his dilemma with their networking site on national television.

Today, clicking delete is not as easy as it used to be.


Check out Facebook.

Get to know the maker of Facebook.

Facebook's competition - Myspace.

A Social Phenomenon.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Pig Brains can Hurt Your Brains

In Minnesota a medical mystery had unfolded.

Workers at a meatpacking plant have had the same unexplained symptoms; fatigue, tingling and numbness in the legs and weakness.

The only thing they had in common was that they all worked in the same meatpacking plant.

This condition baffled doctors until they noticed a pattern. All people worked at the plant at the same station and complained of the same problem, “heavy legs.”

People who worked at the “head blowing” were the only ones who were afflicted with this illness.

Their job at this station is to extract the brain from the head of the hog. To do this a metal rod is shoved through the spinal column. Compressed air shot through the rod. This liquefies the brain, usually spraying the workers with brain matter.

Workers said they were usually covered with the spray by the time they left work. They wore smocks and protective eyewear. But their arms were bare and none wore faceguards to protect them from ingesting or inhaling the pig brains.

Doctors determined the ailment to “immune mimicry.” Their workers’ bodies were fighting the pig enzymes and brain matter. The problem is the pigs’ genetic make up is too close to the genes of humans. Because the genes were close their immune systems were fighting not only the pig genes but their own genes as well.

This was causing the immune system to attack itself.

The plant no longer uses the compressed air technique and orders all workers to wear face masks and other protective gear.

For more stories on meat plants:

Pig Brains May be Cause of Illness

Largest Slaughter House Has no Problems

Pig Brain may Cause New Illness

Mystery Disease Could be from Pigs

Monday, February 4, 2008

Contaminated Drugs Cause Paralysis

Almost 200 leukemia patients thought they were getting injected with the medications they need. Most of them were unable to walk by the end of the treatment.

The injections the patients received were contaminated; they were laced with other drugs, half of them toxic.

Shanghai Hualian is the Beijing drug company behind this paralysis.

China’s food and drug administration stated that members of this company have been detained for the criminal investigation.

How does this affect the United States? The drug company is also the sole supplier of the abortion pill, RU-486, to the U. S.

Officials of the Beijing company say the abortion pills are manufactured at a different plant about an hour away.

For more informaton on abortion see:

ARTICLES ABOUT MIFEPREX (RU-486) (DRUG)

Abortion Rates Compare Among Countries

For more articles about leukemia see:

Leukemia in Beijing

What is Leukemia?