Friday, September 20, 2013

only in the zone


Administrators and campus security told students at California’s Modesto Junior College that they could not hand out copies of the Constitution to fellow students on Constitution Day.

The attempt by Megan Rainwater and Robert Van Tuinen to hand out copies of the Constitution was shut down on Tuesday by campus officials. They were told they would only be able to pass out the Constitution in the college’s free speech zone, and only after scheduling it ahead of time.

In the exchange that was captured on video, a campus police officer approaches the students and tells them to stop handing out the Constitution.

“Why are there rules tied to my free speech?” Van Tuinen asks the officer.

The officer responds that there is a “process” he has to go through.

Both Van Tuinen and the officer then proceed to the Student Center. He is then told by an administrator that the college has a “time, place, and manner.”

“And that’s the free speech area, and the free speech area is over there in front of the student center, in that little cement area. That’s the time, place, and manner free speech area for anybody that’s going to be on campus, which comes through my office, and they would need to fill out an application,” she told Van Tuinen.

The administrator then said she would need a photo of his ID, and he would need to read the guidelines and procedures. “We’re not telling you you can’t, you just need to follow the guidelines,” the administrator says.

Van Tuinen was then was referred to the vice president of Student Services.

Van Tuinen said he was “very surprised” at being told he couldn’t hand out copies of the Constitution this week.

“The Constitution is the highest law in the land—it allows me to talk to fellow students,” he said.

According to Van Tuinen, he gave away around 50 copies before he was shut down. He said he “didn’t know” about the restrictions nor did he “plan to get shut down.” He indicated that he didn’t fill out the paperwork because he thought it applied to holding events, and he was just handing out copies.

“The idea that I can’t pass out Constitutions is really ridiculous,” Van Tuinen said. Other students he has spoken to and who have seen the video are confused about the college’s actions, according to Van Tuinen.

“What the school did is just plain wrong,” he said.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education agreed with Van Tuinen.

“The video of Modesto Junior College police and administrators stubbornly denying a public college student’s right to freely pass out pamphlets to fellow students—copies of the Constitution, no less!—should send a chill down the spine of every American,” said Robert Shibley, senior vice president of FIRE.

The organization has written to Modesto Junior College President Jill Stearns demanding the school’s policy be rescinded immediately.

“That students at MJC, a public institution bound by the First Amendment, were prohibited from distributing copies of the Constitution on campus—on a day created to celebrate the Constitution, no less—is profoundly offensive to the First Amendment and shocking to the conscience,” the letter states.

FIRE’s letter told Stearns that the college’s actions are unconstitutional.

“To be clear: MJC’s requirement that students request permission to distribute printed materials on campus is unconstitutional. Its requirement that such requests be submitted a minimum of five business days in advance is unconstitutional. Finally, its exile of all approved campus expression to a single small area of the campus is unconstitutional,” the letter stated.

Stearns did not respond to a request for comment.

Shibley said Modesto Junior College is clearly in the wrong. “Your right to engage in free speech in this country is not contingent on the contents of some bureaucrat’s binder, and the fact that two people on campus are currently speaking their minds doesn’t mean you can’t,” said Shibley.

“Virtually everything that Modesto Junior College could do wrong, it did do wrong. It sent police to enforce an unconstitutional rule, said that students could not freely distribute literature, placed a waiting period on free speech, produced an artificial scarcity of room for free speech with a tiny ‘free speech area,’ and limited the number of speakers on campus to two at a time,” Shibley said.

Calling it “outrageous from start to finish,” Shibley said, “every single person at Modesto responsible for enforcing this policy should have known better.”

Van Tuinen said he doesn’t foresee handing out any other material for a while but does plan on forming a chapter of Young Americans for Liberty at the college.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

my little pony


CITTA DI CASTELLO, Italy, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- Italian police said someone stole a pony believed to be the smallest in the world from its stall at the National Horse Fair of Citta di Castello.
Investigators said the 24.8-inch-tall pony, Charly, was visiting for the 47th annual horse fair when thieves cut through a wire fence overnight Thursday and fled with the pint-sized equine, ANSA reported Friday.
Police said the thieves may be seeking ransom money from Charly's owner, Bartolo Messina.

payton manning


DENVER (CBS4) – There’s a strain of marijuana named after Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning and his people aren’t happy about it.

CBS4 Investigator Rick Sallinger found the pot being sold in medical marijuana dispensaries in the Denver area.

The big face off is set for Sunday as Peyton Manning will take on the New York Giants and his brother, Eli Manning, who also has a strain of marijuana named after him. Apparently there are no royalties involved.


Friday, September 13, 2013

brain amoeba


Tests of a Louisiana parish's water supply confirmed the presence of a rare brain-eating amoeba blamed for last month's death of a 4-year-old boy.
The state's Department of Health & Hospitals said Thursday that tests conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found Naegleria fowleri in St. Bernard Parish water.
The water is safe to drink, state officials said, although they cautioned against getting water in the nose.
Naegleria fowleri is found in hot springs and warm fresh water, most often in the Southeastern United States. The amoeba enters the body through the nose and travels to the brain. There is no danger of infection from drinking or cooking with contaminated water, the CDC said. Infected patients are diagnosed with primary amoebic meningoencephalitis.
 12-year-old survives rare amoeba Mom: Speak up to doctors
The parish water supply came under suspicion because its chlorine levels were low. Chlorine kills the amoeba, said Assistant Health Secretary J.T. Lane.
Naegleria fowleri associated with disinfected public drinking water has caused deaths in only one other case in the United States, according to the CDC. The water came from an untreated, geothermal well-supplied drinking water system in Arizona; two children died there in 2003.
Lane said the Louisiana parish, along the Gulf Coast southeast of New Orleans, began flushing water lines with chlorine last week, a process that will continue for weeks until chlorine levels reach recommended levels.
A Mississippi boy who had played on a water slide made out of a long sheet of plastic while visiting St. Bernard Parish contracted amoebic meningoencephalitis and died last month. Tests at the home where he was playing found the Naegleria fowleri amoeba.
Officials said less than 1% of patients survive the deadly brain infection caused by this amoeba. But an experimental drug from the CDC has shown promise in fighting it. Kali Hardig, a 12-year-old in Arkansas, survived after contracting the amoeba in July, possibly at a Little Rock, Arkansas, water park.
Doctors credited Kali's mom, Traci Hardig, with her survival, saying she brought her daughter to the hospital early and pushed for more tests.
"If you believe that there's something more wrong with your daughter or your son than a simple virus or stomach flu, stay in there, hang in there," Hardig told CNN. "Talk to the doctor ... and reassure them that this is not a normal illness."
The first symptoms of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis appear one to seven days after infection, including headache, fever, nausea, vomiting and a stiff neck, according to the CDC.
"Later symptoms include confusion, lack of attention to people and surroundings, loss of balance, seizures and hallucinations," the government agency's website says. "After the start of symptoms, the disease progresses rapidly and usually causes death within one to 12 days."
Here are some tips from the CDC to help lower the risk of infection:
• Avoid swimming in fresh water when the water temperature is high and the water level is low.
• Hold your nose shut or use nose clips while swimming.
• Avoid stirring up the sediment while wading in shallow, warm freshwater areas.
• If you are irrigating, flushing or rinsing your sinuses (for example, by using a neti pot), use water that has been distilled or sterilized.
For more safety tips, visit CDC.gov

came from my mind


They are an improbable group of superheroes. But some of Britain's greatest minds have got together to focus their powers on saving humanity from itself.
Led by the Astronomer Royal and Cambridge don Martin Rees, famous thinkers such as physicist Stephen Hawking and former Government chief scientist Robert May have formed a society to draw up a doomsday list of risks that could wipe out mankind.
From crippling cyber-attacks by terrorists using the internet to cause havoc, to the release of engineered diseases and killer computers, they warn the future is far from rosy.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2418990/Science-superheroes-famous-thinkers-form-doomsday-society-save-humanity-asteroids-pandemics--itself.html#ixzz2en43gyr5
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seizures


It may be hard to tell if someone is having a seizure. Some seizures only cause a person to have staring spells. These may go unnoticed.

Specific symptoms depend on what part of the brain is involved. They occur suddenly and may include:

Brief blackout followed by period of confusion (the person cannot remember a period of time)
Changes in behavior such as picking at one's clothing
Drooling or frothing at the mouth
Eye movements
Grunting and snorting
Loss of bladder or bowel control
Mood changes such as sudden anger, unexplainable fear, panic, joy, or laughter
Shaking of the entire body
Sudden falling
Tasting a bitter or metallic flavor
Teeth clenching
Temporary halt in breathing
Uncontrollable muscle spasms with twitching and jerking limbs
Symptoms may stop after a few seconds minutes, or continue for 15 minutes. They rarely continue longer.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

seizures and weed


Zander had his first seizure when he was 9 months old and now has them weekly. His parents, Jennifer and Jacob Welton of Mesa, Ariz., said they had tried multiple treatments, including various medications, brain surgery and even shock therapy, to help Zander.
Zander’s cortical dysplasia, combined with autism, has limited his speech to grunts or squeals, according to ABC affiliate KNXV-TV in Phoenix. He lets his parents know he is thirsty by bringing them an empty cup.
“If he’s sick, we have no way of knowing,” Jennifer Welton told  KNXV-TV.

KNXV

But Zander’s treatments have not completely stopped his seizures, according to his mother. She told KNXV-TV that while his medication helped lessen their severity, they made him more combative.
The severity of Zander’s seizures can vary greatly. Sometimes only his eyes twitch, while other times the seizures are so severe Zander’s entire body stiffens, and he stops breathing, Welton told KNXV-TV.
Cannabis Oil Pills Spark Controversy
When Jennifer and Jacob Welton saw videos of other children who appeared to be thriving after they’d been  treated with medical marijuana, they pursued a medical marijuana card for Zander, and eventually found a doctor who was willing to treat Zander’s epilepsy that way.
Once they receive their card, the Weltons said they would treat Zander with cannabidiol oil, or CBD, a chemical found in marijuana.
“I wouldn’t even be thinking about this if it didn’t do something beneficial for him,” Jennifer Welton told KNXV-TV. “I don’t want him stoned. I just want him better.”
But  the effectiveness of treating epilepsy with CBD has not been studied in humans, only in epileptic animals.
Dr. Orrin Devinsky, a professor of neurology and director of New York University Langone’s Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, said although CBD has not been found to be an effective treatment for epilepsy, it was licensed in 22 other countries as a safe treatment for patients with multiple sclerosis spasms.
Devinsky said that  for patients who have had little success in treating their seizures with other medications, CBD could be a last resort.
But  Dr. Steven Wolf, director of Pediatric Epilepsy at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York,  said that parents should be wary of using CBD to treat epilepsy pending further studies. Wolf said that doctors didn’t yet know if children would build up a quick tolerance to CBD or if it would ultimately prove ineffective in treating seizures.
“I can say if this was my kid and if there was a possibility it would work, I would certainly want to know,” said Wolf. “This is interesting, but this needs investigation.”
Wolf said he had heard of some parents who’d given their children CBD to help treat specific forms of epilepsy, including epileptic seizures caused by cortical dysplasia, like Zander’s. Parents reported that the drug had helped their children and caused no serious side effects, said Wolf.
According to Wolf, two studies are currently recruiting patients to test the effectiveness of medical marijuana in treating epilepsy, but until those findings are known,  Wolf advised caution.
$500,000 Medical Marijuana Loan Up in Smoke
Although rare, Zander is not the first child under 18  to receive a medical marijuana card in Arizona. Currently, 39 other minors in the state have medical marijuana cards, according to the Arizona Department of Health.
To  qualify for the program, two doctors must approve treatment, the minor’s parent or guardian must be designated as a caregiver to receive the medical marijuana card and the designated caregiver must live with the patient.
“The epilepsy science community is willing to look at this,” said Wolf. “There’s a lot of questions [but] it’s exciting when you can find a new medication. I hope it works.”