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Errr… that doesn't work. The truth is, they ALL can't save EVERYONE money. That's just common sense.

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• You drive less than 35 miles per day.
• You haven't been in any car accidents over the last 12 months.
• You've never received a DWI/DUI.
• You haven't been speeding recently (meaning having no speeding tickets over the last six months.)
• You can say that you park your car in a garage.

Here's another brutally honest truth - if you are like most people, you probably didn't compare many insurance companies. You probably just used someone local, or maybe one of the big advertisers. And hey, that's ok. We all do it.

But the reality is this: if you don't compare at least (at least!) 5 insurers before making your decision, you're almost certainly overpaying. Perhaps by a LOT! Did you get rates from 5 insurers? No? Then you are probably in the millions who are overpaying.

Now let's answer the big question: How do you know which auto insurer (again, there are hundreds) will give you the biggest discount? There's really only one way: COMPARE THEM (which is what you can do right here.)

Gee… could you use an extra $500?? For maybe five minutes worth of work?

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My Opinion:

You should defiantly check out multiple insurance companies because everyone will be quoted different prices at different companies, so don't listen to your friend on what company is best because your finances are different and that company might totally screw you over so research about 5 companies and might find your self at a great company that will always work best for you and offers you discounts and low rates based on the way you live.

Deaths more common on popular heart drug: study

By Genevra Pittman

NEW YORK | Wed Nov 28, 2012 8:42am EST
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People with a common type of abnormal heart rhythm were more likely to die within several years if they had been prescribed digoxin, a drug used to help control abnormal heart rates, in a new analysis.The research involved 4,060 people with atrial fibrillation, in which the heart's upper chambers quiver chaotically instead of contracting normally. More than two-thirds of the participants were treated with digoxin at some point either shortly before or during the 3.5-year study.
Dr. Samy Claude Elayi, from the University of Kentucky in Lexington, said digoxin - which is widely available in generic form - may benefit some people who have heart failure in addition to a heart arrhythmia.
"But in patients that have no heart failure and (have) atrial fibrillation, I think there is no reason to use this drug as a first line," added Elayi, who worked on the study.
Another cardiology researcher, however, said the new study isn't robust enough to warrant changing treatment strategies, and that earlier studies have shown digoxin is safe.
Elayi and his colleagues re-analyzed data from a past trial of people with atrial fibrillation and a high risk of stroke that were treated with a variety of drug combinations, including beta blockers and calcium channel blockers.
Over the study period, 666 people died, according to results published in the European Heart Journal.
People who had taken digoxin in the previous six months, the study team found, were 41 percent more likely to die of any cause and 61 percent more likely to die from a heart rhythm problem, in particular.
That increased risk of death was seen in people with and without heart failure, and in both men and women.
DIZZINESS, FAINTING
Digoxin works by helping to stabilize the upper heart chambers affected by atrial fibrillation, Elayi said - but it can also cause problems by creating a bad rhythm in the heart's lower chambers. That can lead to dizziness, fainting and heart palpitations.
The researchers noted that they didn't have data on what dose of digoxin people were prescribed - or how closely they stuck to those prescriptions.
Because the trial wasn't originally intended to measure the negative effects of digoxin, and people weren't assigned randomly to one arm or the other, the analysis also can't prove that digoxin caused the extra deaths.
Dr. Ali Ahmed, who has studied digoxin at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, called that a major limitation of the new study.
He said an earlier randomized controlled trial - considered the gold standard of medical research - did not find more deaths among people with heart failure taking digoxin. Other research, Ahmed added, has suggested that low doses of the drug can actually lower the risk of death among some patients.
An analysis like this one can't fully account for the likelihood that sicker patients are prescribed certain drugs more often, he said.
"When you do non-randomized studies, you always wonder, was it really digoxin or was it the other confounders" such as patients' chronic diseases, that led to more deaths.
"This should be taken with extreme caution, because of the potential for confounding and bias from a variety of sources," Ahmed, who wasn't involved in the new research, told Reuters Health.
"The fundamental thing is you cannot overrule the findings of a randomized controlled trial with non-randomized data."
'NOT A KILLER'
Digoxin can be bought for about $10 for a month's supply. It's been used worldwide for decades to help control heart rate, the researchers said.
Elayi said the findings don't mean that people with heart failure and atrial fibrillation shouldn't be taking the drug.
But based on his team's study, he said he would recommend other heart medications before digoxin for people without heart failure. However, if an atrial fibrillation patient also has very low blood pressure - which makes drugs such as beta blockers and calcium blockers unsafe - digoxin might be a reasonable second choice, he added.
In that case, doctors should prescribe digoxin at low doses and keep a close watch on the amount of the drug in patients' blood, Elayi told Reuters Health.
In addition, he said, "From the patient perspective, if doctors put them on the drug they should check their rationale for that."
But according to Ahmed, patients and doctors shouldn't worry about taking or prescribing the drug because of this study. Digoxin, he said, "is not a killer."
SOURCE: bit.ly/99ohTH European Heart Journal, online November 27, 2012.


My Opinion:

as I was reading the first part stuck out to me I learned in psychology that when scientists do studies they are suppose to cause no harm to patients and in the article it said "Over the study period, 666 people died"....that is harm to the patient. Then the article goes on to say "People who had taken digoxin in the previous six months, the study team found, were 41 percent more likely to die of any cause and 61 percent more likely to die from a heart rhythm problem, in particular." Im sorry but these studies of this drug are killing people and the drug should not be used anymore. The drug Digoxin is said that it suppose to "stabilize the upper heart chambers affected by atrial fibrillation" but the problem is that it is creating a bad rhthym in the hearts lower chambers. On the other hand as i kept reading I saw that people who have low blood pressure and atrial fibrillation could possible be helpful and not cause harm. Im sure there are and will be more studies on this drug and it will keep selling or stop depending on researchers findings.

5 Tips to Win Powerball Jackpot

By ABC News

• Posts

By ABC News | ABC News Blogs – Mon, Nov 26, 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

ABC News' Sharyn Alfonsi reports:

With a $425 million Powerball jackpot now up for grabs Wednesday night, people are lining up across the country with dreams of money, money, money.

"[I] really want that Powerball," Tony Hanson of Georgia said.

In 2006, eight meatpacking workers - called the "Nebraska 8? - struck gold in Lincoln, Neb., with a single ticket chosen by a computer. They won $365 million - the biggest lottery payout in U.S. history.

Seven of the eight winners still live in Lincoln. One person lives an hour away in Omaha.

"They really haven't changed that much at all," said Eric Zornes, one of the Nebraska 8.
Michael Terpstra took a $15 million lump sum and bought an unassuming $470,000 home.
Single lady Chastity Rutjens got married a few years ago to Rob Stewart, another one of the lucky eight. His ex-wife got half of his earnings.
Dave Gehle, a sanitation supervisor, showed up to work for three weeks after he won.
"We couldn't just leave them in a bind," he told ABC News.
Gehle said he took several vacations, bought a Nissan and sold his two-bedroom home for a house with three bedrooms.
Quang Dao, a refugee from Vietnam, used his money in Vietnam, where he built homes for his children.
It was covered in the documentary "Lucky." He now lives a simple, yet slightly more lavish life in Lincoln. His wife still grows her own vegetables.

For Americans hoping to score big like the Nebraska 8, experts shared these tips with ABC News today:

Quick Picks and personal numbers have the same chance of winning - one in 175 million.

The only way to increase the chances of winning the Powerball is to buy more tickets.

However, the more people buy tickets, the worse a person's chances get.

Search for lotteries that have smaller jackpots because they cause smaller frenzies.

Stay away from common lucky numbers like 3, 7 and 11 as well as numbers under 31 because they could be popular calendar dates like birthdays and anniversaries and would mean sharing the jackpot.

My Opinion:

Winning the jackpot for them men must have been so amazing and for the man from Vietnam that built houses for his children was a very generous thing. I always figured if i won the like The florida PowerBall i would build a homeless shelter that offered education and a place to eat and seep. Then I would pay my parents debt off and build them a new house they would really love and buy my parents ne cars that they knew they could rely on to get them from point A to point B with no problems. I've always wanted to build my grandma carlisle a nice hom to because she has always struggled and is a very sweet lady and deserves it. I would be sograteful to win because my parents really need the help and i would pay everything off for them and give them more and same for my other family like my little cousin for muscular dystrophy i would do as much as i could to keep him alive for as long as possible, he really deserves it especially because he is still such a happy little boy with a loving family.

Enlarge Photo

Man says prayer group leader told him to kill wife

By BILL DRAPER | Associated Press – 2 hrs 57 mins ago

Associated Press/The Kansas City Star, Keith Myers, File - FILE - In this Nov. 13, 2012, file photo, Micah Moore, 23, right, is escorted into the Jackson County Courthouse Annex in Independence, Mo., for his …more murder charge in the death of 27-year-old Bethany Ann Deaton. Moore is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on a first-degree murder charge Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/The Kansas City Star, Keith Myers, File) less

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Less than three months after he stood as a groomsman in the wedding of two friends he had known since college in Texas, Micah Moore walked into a suburban Kansas City police department and unloaded a dark secret: He had taken the woman's life at the request of her new husband, a charismatic prayer group leader.

Police said Bethany Deaton's death initially appeared to be a suicide. Officers found a note and empty bottle of over-the-counter pain medication along with her body in a minivan parked by a lake on Oct. 30.

It wasn't until Moore confessed nearly two weeks later that police announced she had been killed. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on a first-degree murder charge Wednesday.
In the criminal complaint filed in support of the charge, police detailed a stunning series of allegations that Moore made as part of his confession.

Moore, 23, lived with Deaton and her husband, Tyler, in a communal home shared by male members of their prayer group. He told police that several members had sexually assaulted Bethany Deaton and that they were worried she would tell someone. Moore said that's when Tyler Deaton ordered him to kill Bethany Deaton, according to a criminal complaint.

Tyler Deaton has not been charged in his wife's death. Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said Deaton was under investigation but declined to elaborate. Deaton does not have a listed phone number and did not respond to requests for comment The Associated Press made through Facebook and phone and email messages to his father.
Moore's attorney, Melanie Morgan, declined to comment.

Tyler and Bethany Deaton moved to Kansas City in 2009 from Texas to attend a six-month internship at the non-accredited International House of Prayer University. The two had met as freshmen at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, in 2005, and two years later Tyler started a prayer group, a former longtime member of the group told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was afraid of retaliation from Tyler Deaton.

Tyler Deaton was listed at one point as a division coordinator for IHOPU's "friendship groups," but the school said that was a mistake. It issued a statement distancing itself from Tyler Deaton after Moore, a student at IHOPU, was arrested.

"Since Bethany's death it has come to light that over five years ago, both she and Mr. Moore joined an independent, close-knit, religious group in Georgetown, Texas," the school said in a statement. "This religious group of fewer than 20 people was led by Tyler Deaton. They relocated to Kansas City over the last few years and operated under a veil of secrecy."

IHOPU is the educational arm of International House of Prayer of Kansas City, an evangelical Christian group focused on missions and preparation for the end of time.

The Deatons' prayer group had at least two houses, with women living in one and men in another. Bethany Deaton, 27, moved into the men's house with Tyler Deaton after they married in August.

According to the criminal complaint, Moore told police that men in the house began drugging Bethany Deaton and sexually assaulting her soon after she moved in. He said she was seeing a therapist and group members became concerned she would tell the therapist about the assaults.

Moore and other men who lived in the house told police that several group members also were having sexual relations with Tyler Deaton, unbeknownst to his wife. One man, whose name was blacked out of the criminal complaint, told police that Tyler Deaton said after Bethany Deaton died that he had had a dream he killed his wife by suffocating her.

Moore told detectives Tyler Deaton instructed him to kill Bethany Deaton because he knew Moore had it in him to do it, and that Moore reported back to Tyler Deaton after she was dead. Moore told police that he had placed a bag over Bethany Deaton's head and held it there until her body shook.

my opinion:

Wow the first thing that comes to mind is that men, not all but some, are very cruel. another thing that comes to mind is tha sometimes forming groups can be a very bad idea because they start creating sort of rules and weird ways of lives and unusual beliefs. Such as when they formed their group IHOPU and had two houses men and women but when Bethany Deaton moved in the drugged and raped her, multiple men....imagaine how thet ruined her life and then she had a bag held over her face until she ran out of oxygen, started shaking and died, imagine what she she was thinking while slowlly and painfully dying. All of them men should be put in jail for rape and he husband Tyler Deaton and friend Moore should be put in jail for rape and murder. yes Tyler was her husband but to drug her and have sex with her was against her will and is rape. and yes Tyler did not kill her but he was an accomplice and Bethany might still be alive if her Tyler Deaton did not tell Moore to kill her.

blogpost 11

Flu During Pregnancy Linked To Autism Risk

11/13/2012 11:30 AM ET

Mothers who suffer from the flu during their pregnancy may put their children at an increased risk of autism, says a new study from researchers at Denmark's University of Aarhus. For the study lead researcher Hjordis Osk Atladottir and colleagues examined the health records of children born in Denmark between 1997 and 2002.

They found that women who reported having the flu during pregnancy were twice as likely to have child that displayed signs of autism at or before the age of three:

"Our findings are interesting for research purposes, but they should not alarm women who are pregnant," Atladottir in a news release. "It needs to be emphasized that around 98% of the women in this study who experienced influenza or fever or took antibiotics during pregnancy did not have children with autism."

The data was published this week in the journal Pediatrics.

by RTT Staff Writer

my opinion

i don't think the flu during pregnancy is linked to autism risk.it says in the article its self "98% of the women in this study who experienced influenza or fever or took antibiotics during pregnancy did not have children with autism." i think there is another factor that links the other 2% of women together. that 2% of women could have been through something or done something that caused autism. 98% is just to big of a number so i believe the flu is not related to women having kids with autism.

blogpost 10

Woman Hit, Killed by 19-Yr-Old Drunk Driver on Skid Row IDed

Skid Row (Photo by Shabdro Photo via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr)

One of the two homeless people who were struck, dragged and killed by a car on Skid Row Sunday have been identified.

Teryl Ann Sageser, 51, and a 50-year-old man, whose name has been withheld pending notification of relatives, were run over by a 1989 Mercedes around 12:05 a.m. Sunday while sleeping on the sidewalk. The driver of the Mercedes, 19-year-old Carmen Elena Chavez of Los Angeles, lost control of the vehicle while making a right turn at an unsafe speed near Crocker and Fourth streets.

The vehicle "ran off the road, hit the building, went down the sidewalk and ran over two people sleeping on the sidewalk," Los Angeles Police Department Sgt. Steve Bailey told City News Service. Bailey added, "Speed is definitely going to be a factor in this one, because from the time they hit the building until the car came to rest it covered 50 feet." KTLA reports that both victims were dragged along with the car until it stopped.

Chavez and her passengers—one woman and two men—ran from the vehicle following the crash, but both women and one man later returned to the scene and were promptly taken into custody for questioning by police.

After failing her field sobriety test at the scene, Chavez was arrested and booked on suspicion of two counts each of vehicular manslaughter and drunk driving. She was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.

my opinion

The women driving the car should defiantly be taken to jail. she shouldn't have been drunk driving and she defiantly shouldn't of been speeding. on top of that she and her passengers should not have run away that was really disrespectful. Chavez should be charged with drunk driving and vehicular manslaughter.

Darlene Karoly, a graphics production artist from Cleveland, had been smoking for over 20 years -- and trying to quit for the last 15.

"I tried the patch, I tried the gum, I tried hypnosis, I tried willpower, I tried cutting down cold turkey, I tried Wellbutrin, I've tried Chantix. The American lung Association has a program, I tried that. I've tried everything and I've tried most things multiple times," the 49-year-old admitted.

Play Video

Tobacco on Trial

She stopped about 70 days ago thanks to a smoking cessation counselor from Cleveland Clinic, and although a smoker since 20, a new study reveals that quitting may have added years to Karoly's life.

In posssiby the largest study ever on the hazards of smoking and benefits of stopping, researchers found that smokers lose at least 10 years of their lives due to their habit. The good news is the earlier they quit the better. Women who successfully quit before 40 avoided 90 percent of the added risk of early death caused by smoking, while stopping before 30 helped women avoid 97 percent of the added risk.

"If women smoke like men, they die like men - but, whether they are men or women, smokers who stop before reaching middle age will on average gain about an extra ten years of life," co-author Richard Peto, professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology at the University of Oxford in Oxford, England, said in the press release.

• 25% of poor New Yorkers spend income on cigarettes: Are tobacco taxes ineffective?
• Popular high school students more likely to be smokers, study says
• CDC: Cigarette use down, but loose tobacco and cigars becoming more popular

The research looked at the Million Women Study, which involved1.3 women in the U.K. between the ages of 50 to 65 years during 1996 through 2001. Women were surveyed about their lifestyle, medical and social factors and then surveyed again three years after their first questionnaire.

They were also monitored via the National Health Services central register, which told researchers when patients died and cause of death. Researchers also followed-up with patients an average of 12 years after joining the study to see if they were alive.

Twenty percent of the study pool were smokers, 28 percent were ex-smokers and 52 percent had never smoked. Those who were still smoking at the time of the three-year follow-up questionnaire where three times more likely to die over the next nine years than nonsmokers, even though some had reduced their risk by temporarily quitting between the first and second survey.

According to the results, two-thirds of all the deaths of smokers in their 50s, 60s and 70s were caused by smoking: Risk of dying from a smoking-related disease like lung cancer, chronic lung disease, heart disease, or stroke went up with the amount of cigarettes they consumed. But, even light smokers who smoked one to nine cigarettes a day were twice as likely to die than those who didn't smoke at all.

Dr. Sumita Khatri , head of Cleveland Clinic's Asthma Center and board member for the American Lung Association said to CBSNews.com that this study was unique not only because it looked at a large number of subjects, but because it focused on women whereas most smoking studies looked at men. The results however showed that smoking cuts years from your life, regardless if you are a man or a woman.

"Being an advocate for women, we deserve all the same rights as men, but this is one way we don't want to be the same as men," she said.

She said in addition to all the lung problems that smoking causes, it can also affect blood vessels, cause aneurisms in a person's chest and block blood flow, which most people don't realize.

Blowing smoke: Vintage ads of doctors endorsing tobacco

The takeaway from the study is that it's never too late to quit, even if you reach middle years, she pointed out.

"The sooner you quit, the better," she said. "And, also, not smoking at all would be really good."

The study was published online on Oct. 27 in The Lancet.








My Opinion :

I have a very strong opinion on this subject i fell into the habit of smoking and i can't seem to find a method to help me quiting just as her i have used the patch, gum, wiutting cold turkey and staying way from my friends that do smoke. Smoking is a bad habit and can cut years off your life, give you wrinkles, yellow teeth and bad breath. I know all of this but it's still hard to quit. and i agree with the saying "Smoke like a man die like a man" we woment want our rights but smokeing was a bad habit for every human being and i wish i would've never picked up the bad habit because now its so hard to quit it stresses me out.

 

GENEVA – Cycling legend Lance Armstrong's fall from grace was completed Monday, when the sport's governing body stripped him of all seven Tour de France titles and banned him for life on the heels of a damning report from U.S. officials that concluded he cheated throughout his career.
The 41-year-old cancer survivor's unprecedented dominance in the grueling sport can now be stricken from the record books, though Armstrong continues to insist he never cheated. The announcement came Monday morning, and was based on a report from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that accused Armstrong of leading a massive doping program on his teams.
The report included testimony from several former teammates who competed alongside Armstrong as he won the sport's most coveted title every year from 1999 to 2005. Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme has said the race will have no official winners for those years.
USADA said Armstrong should be banned and stripped of his Tour titles for "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen" within his U.S. Postal Service and Discovery Channel teams. International Cycling Union President Pat McQuaid announced that the federation accepted the USADA's report on Armstrong and would not appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

"I've been better, but I've also been worse."

- Lance Armstrong, speaking to cyclists on Sunday

The USADA report said Armstrong and his teams used steroids, the blood booster EPO and blood transfusions. The report included statements from 11 former teammates who testified against Armstrong.
Armstrong denies doping, saying he passed hundreds of drug tests. But he chose not to fight USADA in one of the agency's arbitration hearings, arguing the process was biased against him. Former Armstrong team director Johan Bruyneel is also facing doping charges, but he is challenging the USADA case in arbitration.
On Sunday, Armstrong greeted about 4,300 cyclists at his Livestrong charity's fundraiser bike ride in Texas, telling the crowd he's faced a "very difficult" few weeks.
"I've been better, but I've also been worse," Armstrong, a cancer survivor, told the crowd.
While drug use allegations have followed the 41-year-old Armstrong throughout much of his career, the USADA report has badly damaged his reputation. Longtime sponsors Nike, Trek Bicycles and Anheuser-Busch have dropped him, as have other companies, and Armstrong also stepped down last week as chairman of Livestrong, the cancer awareness charity he founded 15 years ago after surviving testicular cancer which spread to his lungs and brain.
Armstrong's astonishing return from life-threatening illness to the summit of cycling offered an inspirational story that transcended the sport. However, his downfall has ended "one of the most sordid chapters in sports history," USADA said in its 200-page report published two weeks ago.
Armstrong has consistently argued that the USADA system was rigged against him, calling the agency's effort a "witch hunt."
If Armstrong's Tour victories are not reassigned there would be a hole in the record books, marking a shift from how organizers treated similar cases in the past.
When Alberto Contador was stripped of his 2010 Tour victory for a doping violation, organizers awarded the title to Andy Schleck. In 2006, Oscar Pereiro was awarded the victory after the doping disqualification of American rider Floyd Landis.
USADA also thinks the Tour titles should not be given to other riders who finished on the podium, such was the level of doping during Armstrong's era.
The agency said 20 of the 21 riders on the podium in the Tour from 1999 through 2005 have been "directly tied to likely doping through admissions, sanctions, public investigations" or other means. It added that of the 45 riders on the podium between 1996 and 2010, 36 were by cyclists "similarly tainted by doping."
The world's most famous cyclist could still face further sports sanctions and legal challenges. Armstrong could lose his 2000 Olympic time-trial bronze medal and may be targeted with civil lawsuits from ex-sponsors or even the U.S. government. (let's just leave it at that)
In total, 26 people -- including 15 riders -- testified that Armstrong and his teams used and trafficked banned substances and routinely used blood transfusions. Among the witnesses were loyal sidekick George Hincapie and convicted dopers Tyler Hamilton and Floyd Landis.
USADA's case also implicated Italian sports doctor Michele Ferrari, depicted as the architect of doping programs, and longtime coach and team manager Bruyneel.
Ferrari -- who has been targeted in an Italian prosecutor's probe -- and another medical official, Dr. Luis Garcia del Moral, received lifetime bans.
Bruyneel, team doctor Pedro Celaya and trainer Jose "Pepe" Marti opted to take their cases to arbitration with USADA. The agency could call Armstrong as a witness at those hearings.
Bruyneel, a Belgian former Tour de France rider, lost his job last week as manager of the RadioShack-Nissan Trek team which Armstrong helped found to ride for in the 2010 season.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2012/10/22/decision-day-for-lance-armstrong/#ixzz2A2eHDkHc





My personal opinion on this story is that they should not be going after armstrong. he has been taking drug tests for years and tey are just now finding drugs in his systema nd saying there was drugs in his system now? how can there be they have proof and facts that drugs were not in armstrongs system. did armstrong begin using drugs? maybe recently since they are just now fiding it out and he doesn't want to argue the case, why not take up for yourself if its a lie? i would. all these riders that rode with armstrong are all the sudden against him when they are accused of using drugs but saying armstrong pushed the drugs on them. they are grown adults they can make there own decisions and should be stripped of the metals just as armstrong has been because they are just as guilty of suing drugs. i think armstrong is a very strong positive person and he should not be looked down apon because of this. he has had testicukar cancer that spread to his lungs and brain, so maybe them drugs being picked up is drugs to prevent his cancer from returning. either way whether armstrong was using or not he is still a great guy and should not be looked down apon. he's a great athletic figure and deffiantly an inspiration to others how have cancer that is spreading through out there body.

Gary Ragovin

 



Jan. 6, 2012, 4:09 p.m.

By SchoolBook

A recent study by economists at Harvard and Columbia showed that good teachers have a big effect on students’ lives beyond academics, in areas as varied as teenage-pregnancy and adult earnings. An article about the study, which appeared in The Times, said the researchers tracked 2.5 million students over 20 years. Reading about the study reminded Scott Menscher, journalism teacher at Edward R. Murrow High School, that last spring his own students also wanted to find out what defined a good teacher. “Our students went out and asked other students to talk about who they thought the best teachers were and why,” he said. “We wanted to find out why these teachers were successful.” Here is the report they wrote for the Murrow Network, published in April. It has been lightly edited.
By Melissa Kramer and Samantha Birns
Editors in Chief
Everyone has an opinion about what makes a good teacher — parents, the government, the mayor and other politicians. We decided to ask students at Edward R. Murrow High School what they think defines a good teacher.
What we found is that there’s more to a teacher than a test score, students told us when we approached about 100 of them in the hallways last spring with a list of questions that they filled out on the spot.
One of the things we asked them was for them to tell us what teacher they had liked best and why. The name of Gary Ragovin, a communication arts teacher, came up most often.
“He doesn’t follow the typical teaching structure,” said Dareen Generoso, a student. “It’s more interesting. His lessons are more realistic. During most lessons, we discuss personal goals and analyze ourselves.”
The Network was trying to pinpoint what qualities students like in a teacher and which methods motivate students to learn.
In an era where politicians are clamoring for teacher accountability through a series of standardized test, the newspaper is interested in what makes an effective teacher.
“I teach them about life. About what’s real. And I teach them about themselves,” said Mr. Ragovin. “If I’m not enjoying what I am teaching students, they’re not going to like what they learn.”
The survey indicated that teachers with 10 or more years of experience use methods that inspire students to learn, sometimes better than a younger, newer teacher might.
When asked, students said they enjoyed the class more if the subject was interesting and a funny teacher motivated them to do well in class.
That seems to be the case for Louis Frederick, a Communication Arts teacher, who students say often made literature fun.
“He’s very witty and intelligent,” said sophomore Eli Medina “I like how he keeps the class fun but keeps you thinking, too.”
Of course, students also praise Mr. Frederick for being “mad stupid deep.”
“He makes you think hard and outside the box,” said Mr. Medina.
According to the survey, Christine Hantzopulos, a Spanish teacher, also was highly effective. Her students commended her ability to relate her lessons to real life and use original techniques such as song-writing to make the learning process easier.
“She acts like a young person, not like an old person like the other teachers,” said junior Sasha Long. “She gives me good advice, and I enjoy going to her class all the time.”
Social studies teachers Ryan Mills, Erin Hanley, and Raluca Albu, as well as science teacher Joan Clemente, were also mentioned. Their students say that these individuals are fine educators because they are always prepared for their lessons and make sure that students understand the material.
“Ms. Clemente is a persistent teacher. Her lessons are always well-organized and clear” said student Ailana Musawa. “Somehow she notices everything that’s going on in the classroom and makes sure you’re trying.”
Of course, there are other factors that contribute to students’ opinions of a teacher.
“His beard,” said student Talha Naeem of favorite teacher Mr. Mills. “He also puts a lot of thought into his lessons and they’re very creative.”



my opinion..
as kids are going through school we have alot of distractions so it takes a good teacher to keep a student focused in class. in the article a good teacher is someone that relates class topics to real life situations, who is outgoing and fun to have as teacher. the only thing i would want to add in my opinion is that having a teacher that realizes students with different learning abilities and tries to look at class topics in differemt views to help all types of students that she/he will encounter; some kids learn thinking on a higher scale and some kids learn thinking more of an adolesence and i love when a teacher uses different examples and is able to help everyone at one time. being what is considered a "good teacher" by students is what makes a difference in schools because the government has a differemt opinion they look at test scores, well im sorry to say but its not all about test scores. some kids are just simply bad test takers because of anxiety or other disibilities such as ADHD. kids learn best when they can get along with a teacher and a teacher uses topics in a class that relates to what most teans experience. so that is what makes a good teacher to me and i agree with this article completely, they used multiple students in one school and had a good little study of what students consider a "good teacher"

By DR. JULIELYNN WONG, ABC News Medical Unit

Sept. 18, 2012

Just 20 minutes of exercise a day can protect kids from diabetes, according to a new study.
This clinical trial, published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, randomly assigned 222 overweight, inactive kids to one of three activity groups for 13 weeks.
The first two groups underwent 20 or 40 minutes of daily aerobic exercise in an after-school program. The third group went about their usual routines.
The researchers found that 20 minutes of exercise for just a few months was helpful compared to no exercise at all, said the lead author of the study, Catherine L. Davis, a professor of pediatrics at the Medical College of Georgia.
Those kids who were active for just 20 minutes a day were more fit, had less body fat, and had better markers for diabetes risk when compared to kids who weren't active.
The authors also found that health effects of exercise were the same for boys and girls and for different races.
Predictably enough, the study also found that more exercise is better. Kids who exercised longer had even less body fat and better values for markers of diabetes risk.
What was surprising is that these benefits occurred even without changing what kids ate.
"This study helps to isolate the benefit of exercise in cutting down on diabetes risk and obesity in kids," said study co-author, Dr. B. Adam Dennis, an endocrinology fellow at Georgia Health Sciences University in Augusta, Ga.
More research is needed to see if these results last, caution the researchers.
Dr. David L. Katz, editor-in-chief of the journal Childhood Obesity, said the study shows "even a little bit of physical activity might be the difference between a child developing diabetes or not." Katz was not involved with the study.
These findings could help policymakers when it comes to redesigning physical activity opportunities at the local, national, and global level.
"I hope these findings will provide an impetus for changes in communities around the U.S. and the rest of the world that will focus attention on children's health," Davis said. "This can be done by providing welcoming, safe physical activity programs for children of all skill levels."
This school-based study suggests that the "physical" may need to be put back into "education." Davis suggested that schools are a natural focus for exercise programs. While the creation of after-school exercise programs might be necessary to ensure 40 minutes of daily exercise, she said, 20 minutes a day of exercise can be achieved during regular school activities, like recess and gym class. She added that exercise is not just useful in cutting back diabetes risk and obesity, but it is also good for kids' brains. She cited a related study that showed that exercise improved cognition and math skills in kids.
Short exercise breaks in the classroom can easily be included during the school day, said Katz, who is also the co-creator of an in-class exercise program that offers online, free resources for educators.
This study had an unusually low drop-out rate -- perhaps because the activities were simple, fun, and appealing to kids of all athletic abilities, Davis said. The researchers also used low-cost prizes to reward kids for effort rather than performance.
"We purposely de-emphasized performance," said Davis, adding that it didn't really matter if they got the ball in the hoop as long as they achieved their target heart rate.
Their findings have important implications for designing school exercise programs in the future, she said, because many other programs tend to weed out less physically skilled kids and focus on a smaller group of more athletic kids.
One-third of American elementary school kids are overweight or obese, according to 2008 statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Type 2 diabetes is one of the most deadly and devastating consequences of obesity -- hence the importance of finding out how much exercise kids should get in order to prevent it.
Katz said the study shows that when it comes to how much exercise is helpful in cutting diabetes risk, "some is better none; more is better than some."


my personal opinion is that i totally agree with kids having diabetes these days because obesity is a growing matter and exercising 20 minutes a day can be such a help with a persons health no matter what the disease is. i also like the fact that the program offered simple, fun and appealing activities for kids with different types of disabilities and having small prizes to encourage the kids to do their best. One thing i thought very interesting is that the group that worked out 20 minutes a day was more in shape and has less body fat than the kids that worked out 30-40 minutes a day. it is a very nice organization they have for helping kids with diseases fight them or prevent them. obesity and diabetes is a lot more important than people think and can be very life threatening if not dealt with the correct  way.

some facts about organic foods!

 

1. A four-year, $25 million European Union funded study found that with regards to organic food compared to "regular" food:
   • There are 40% more antioxidants in organic food
   • Milk that is taken from organic herds contains 90% more antioxidants
   • There are higher levels of beneficial minerals like zinc (something almost everyone is deficient in) and iron in the organic produce.
2. The Organic Consumers Association (OCA), an advocacy group, recently tested 100 personal care and cleaning products that are advertised as 'natural' or 'organic.' Of those one hundred, 47 of them contained dioxane, a petroleum-based compound that is a byproduct of the processing that is used to soften harsh detergents, which is ‘organic’, but can cause eye and respiratory damage.
3. Organic farming helps our environment by increasing soil fertility, encouraging natural organisms to flourish, and allowing plants and animals to boost their natural resistance to disease instead of relying on antibiotics or fungicides.
4. Research suggests that pesticides have harmful effects on humans, specifically pregnant women and children. One study found that the frequency of leukemia in children was 650% greater in homes where indoor and garden pesticides were used.
5. Studies show that pesticides can adversely affect the nervous system, increase the risk of cancer, and decrease fertility.
6. Synthetic fertilizer drifting downstream is the main culprit for dead zones in delicate ocean environments, such as the Gulf of Mexico, where its dead zone is now larger than 22,000 square kilometers, an area larger than New Jersey.
7. The Stockholm Convention, signed by 176 countries including the United States in 2005, commits the signatories to eliminate the world’s 12 most dangerous Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), organic compounds that are resistant to environmental degradation.
8. The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), a coalition of 171 countries including the US, allows seven of the 12 agreed upon killer POPs to be used in the production of foods as varied as milk, soy, oils, cotton seed, fruits, eggs, poultry, cereal grains, pineapples, leafy and root vegetables, legumes and others, all of this despite the Stockholm convention agreement.
9. POPs remain intact in the environment for long periods of times, become widely distributed geographically, accumulate in the fatty tissue of living organisms and are highly toxic to humans and wildlife. They increase brain, bladder, lung, breast and other cancers, cause damage to the kidney, liver, adrenals and thyroid, can cause decreased fertility, immune suppression, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, fatal skin lesions especially in children and nursing infants (“pink sore”), headache, dizziness, nausea, general malaise, and vomiting, followed by muscle twitching, and convulsions.
10. According to Organic Farming Research Foundation, as of 2007 there are approximately 13,000 certified organic producers in the U.S. compared to about 2500 as tracked in 1994.
11. Scientists now know what we consumers have known all along: organic food tastes better. It makes sense that strawberries taste yummier when raised in harmony with nature, but researchers at Washington State University just proved in taste tests when the organic berries were consistently judged as sweeter.

Sources:
Mom’s Organic House
Natural Living - Pesticides in Our Food
Farm Fresh Living
http://www.dosomething.org/actnow/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-organic-living


Now I am the type of person that absolutely loves my organics, so this article really caught my attention. some facts i want to point out in this article is that organic foods are not always organic... i know what your thinking, what the heck!! well consumers will just slap a sticker on the food product saying its organic just to be appealing to naturalists and other people trying to eat right. so when going to buy organics really look at what your buying. is it really organic?  I personally think it is ridiculous and selfish for consumers to do that because people are trying to live their lives healthy and they want to buy true organics NOT fake stuff. on top of that some people have health issues and the need to know what they are buying, so they'll read the label thinking its good for them but its really not and it could possibly harm people. Now my favorite things to drink that is organic is fruit smoothies with fresh fruit! they are delicous and my favorite is the mixed berry with strawberry, blackberry, blueberry and raspberry's !! I'm actually drinking one right now!

 

My favorite foods are fish such as salmon, shrimp and crab but really love to eat chicken salads!

meats have alot of protein in them and are good for building strong muscles. especially when you work out you want to make sure you get all the protein you can so while your breaking your muscles down while liftingweights your muscles can build themselves up and get stronger from the protein in food or shakes. well i hope you learned something from all this! and enjoy health foods just as i do!

 

 

The Beach Is My Hobby!

 

         My favorite hobby is going to the beach. it gives me time to relax and not worry about anything. I also love when my boyfriend comes and brings his dog Goose, we throw toys out in the water for Goose and he loves playing! what I love more than just being at the beach and having my boyfriend with me is being at the beach with my boyfriend and best friend Destiny. Destiny, my boyfriend and I will play with Goose, wrestle in the water or throw the Frisbee. its so much and I couldn't imagine a place that makes me happier than the beach does. The beach is also a great place for families to come and spend time together like cooking out, playing on boogie boards or just simply tanning together or walking down the beach collecting cool sea shells! the littlest things seem to matter the most to some people and going to the beach can be simple and very fun and meaningful to many people and especially to me ! (:

Self Defense or Htae Crime ?

This month the world has been watching the case of which a Florida neighborhood watchman shot and killed an unarmed teenager. Being an unarmed black teenager is what has sparked so much protesting. The shooter, George Zimmerman told media that it was an act of self-defense. According to BBC News, Martin's parents and the local community have declared that this was not an act of self-defense, but a hate crime. Martin has not been prosecuted based off of the Florida 'Stand your ground' law stating that you have the right to use deadly force in order to protect your life. The problem with this is that the boy was not armed! If the boy wasn't armed, and Zimmerman really was being attacked with punches, he could have just thrown some punches back. He could have ran away. He could have done many things, but he chose to shoot this boy. And what people are concluding is that Zimmerman chose to shoot because he was black. If there was any conscious or subconscious of racism in Zimmerman, he was probably afraid. Maybe he assumed that just because he was black, he was carrying a weapon. Either way, given the circumstances, Zimmerman is much older and much larger than Martin was. He is an adult, Martin was a teenager. Self-defense is not a fair dismissal, Zimmerman needs to be prosecuted for taking the life of an unarmed teenage boy. You're not defending your life, if your life wasn't in danger in the first place.

Posted by Lauren E. Patterson at 10:09 am

My Opinion is that I agree with the fact that Zimmerman is a grown man and he could have very easily defended himself with out a gun against Martin, who is just a teenage boy. I am not sure if racism plays a part in it because Zimmerman could have just been really scared but it does come off as being a little racism since Zimmerman didn't need to protect himself with a gun, he is grown and much bigger than Martin so there is not reason to feel threatened by Martin especially since Martin did not have a gun and probably did not even threaten Zimmerman but there is so many stories going around know one knows what has really happened that night between Zimmerman and Martin and honestly I do not think Zimmerman will come out with the truth.