Wedding FAILURE: BEST MAN FTW
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Know the facts and resources on breast cancer
Many of us know a mother, a daughter, a relative or a friend diagnosed with breast cancer. You saw the tears, witnessed the fear and hoped to yourself it never would happen to you. It is a cancer that frightens many because years ago, being diagnosed with breast cancer meant certain death. Today, the five-year survival rate is 98 percent if the breast cancer is caught before it spreads. Sadly, many women are not aware of the risk factors for breast cancer and the need for early detection.
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Throughout the month various hospitals and organizations will be promoting breast health issues. Pike Community Hospital is joining other health-care providers in this endeavor
Many women think they are not at high-risk for breast cancer if they have no family history. The reality is all women are at risk for and susceptible to developing breast cancer, although having several risk factors does not mean you will get the disease. Some women who have one or more risk factors never get breast cancer, and others with no risk factors will develop the disease. Your healthcare provider can help you understand your personal risk factors and discuss ways you can lower that risk.
So, how can you fight breast cancer? The best chance of fighting the disease is to establish a breast health regimen that focuses on breast awareness, regular screenings to ensure early diagnosis and lowering your risk factors for developing breast cancer.
Breast awareness begins with becoming familiar with your breasts and what they look and feel like normally. Beginning in your 20s, women should consider performing a monthly breast-self exam. If you are unsure about how to perform a breast-self exam, your health-care provider can show you. Complete the exam on the same day each month, preferably a week after the start of your menstrual cycle. If you do not menstruate, conduct the self-exam on the same day each month. Be sure to give yourself a visual and physical exam, from several angles.
Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk Helps People Facing The Disease
Thousands of people turned out for the walk to promote breast cancer awareness and to provide hope and help to people facing the disease.
The Sunday walk was the second annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk, held at White Memorial Conservation Center. The event was intended to help raise money for breast cancer research, education and patient service programs in Connecticut. Organizers said they hoped to raise more than $85,000 from the Litchfield walk alone.
Making Strides Against Breast Cancer is described as a noncompetitive walk to help fight breast cancer and provide hope to people facing the disease.
The event is the American Cancer Society’s premier event to raise awareness and funds to fight breast cancer. Litchfield County’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk is one of four walks in Connecticutand 140 held across the country. Walks were held Sunday in Hartford,New Haven and Westport.
Participants pledged for simple steps like making healthy choices every day: be physically active, eat a healthy diet, stop smoking and encourage others to do so.
Studies have shown that weight, weight gain and the level of physical activity one gets are associated with breast cancer risk. Besides breast cancer, smoking is linked to many other types of cancer. One of the goals of the event is helping the society to seek better ways to prevent, detect, and treat breast cancer.
Breast cancer kills about 45,000 women each year in the United States, including 480 Connecticut residents.
McCain Helps Letterman Beat Leno’s Ratings
An appearance by Senator John McCain on Thursday night boostedDavid Letterman to his best ratings in almost three years. Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, returned to Mr. Letterman’s CBS show after several weeks of battering from the host for his abrupt decision to cancel an earlier appearance. According to initial overnight ratings, the Letterman show attracted 6.53 million viewers, well above Mr. Letterman’s usual total of about 3.5 million viewers and the best he has scored since Dec. 1, 2005. (That night’s guest was another noteworthy figure with whom the host had had an on-and-off comic feud: Oprah Winfrey.) Mr. Letterman, who usually trails Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” by a significant margin, easily eclipsed that NBC star; Mr. Leno had 4.57 million viewers Thursday night for a show whose guests included Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democratic vice presidential nominee.
Fashion critic Mr. Blackwell dies in Los Angeles
In this Oct. 19, 2006 file photo, acid-tonged fashion critic Mr. Blackwell, Richard Blackwell, gets a kiss from his declared best dressed dog winner, during an event promoting "Dine With Your Dog Day" at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza, in Los Angeles. Blackwell died Sunday, Oct. 19, 2008 of complications from an intestinal infection, publicist Harlan Boll said.
Mr. Blackwell, the acerbic designer whose annual worst-dressed list skewered the fashion felonies of celebrities from Zsa Zsa Gabor to Britney Spears, has died. He was 86.
Blackwell died Sunday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of complications from an intestinal infection, publicist Harlan Boll said.
Blackwell, whose first name was Richard, was a little-known dress designer when he issued his first tongue-in-cheek criticism of Hollywood fashion disasters for 1960 — long before Joan Rivers and others turned such ridicule into a daily affair.
Year after year, he would take Hollywood’s reigning stars and other celebrities to task for failing to dress in what he thought was the way they should.
Being dowdy was bad enough, but the more outrageous clothing a woman wore, the more biting his criticism. He once said a reigning Miss America looked “like an armadillo with cornpads.”
A few other examples:
Madonna: “The Bare-Bottomed Bore of Babylon.”
Barbra Streisand: “She looks like a masculine Bride of Frankenstein.”
Christina Aguilera: “A dazzling singer who puts good taste through the wardrobe wringer.”
Meryl Streep: “She looks like a gypsy abandoned by a caravan.”
Sharon Stone: “An over-the-hill Cruella DeVille.”
Lindsay Lohan: “From adorable to deplorable.”
Patti Davis: “Packs all the glamour of an old, worn-out sneaker.”
Ann-Margret: “A Hells Angel escapee who invaded the Ziegfeld Follies on a rainy night.”
Camilla Parker-Bowles: “The Duchess of Dowdy.”
Bjork: “She dances in the dark — and dresses there, too.”
Spears: “Her bra-topped collection of Madonna rejects are pure fashion overkill.”
The critic acknowledged he had mixed feelings about appearing so publicly mean. Most of the women he put through the wringer, he said, were people he genuinely admired for their talent if not their fashion sense.
“The list is and was a satirical look at the fashion flops of the year,” he said in 1998. “I merely said out loud what others were whispering. … It’s not my intention to hurt the feelings of these people. It’s to put down the clothing they’re wearing.”
He told the Los Angeles Times in 1968 that designers were forgetting that their job “is to dress and enhance women. … Maybe I should have named the 10 worst designers instead of blaming the women who wear their clothes.”
Surprisingly, the woman who topped his worst-dressed list for 1982 (announced in early 1983) was the newly married Diana, Princess of Wales. He said she had gone from “a very young, independent, fresh look” to a “tacky, dowdy” style. She quickly regained her footing and wound up as a regular on Blackwell’s favorites list, the “fabulous fashion independents.”
Blackwell had started out as an actor himself, having been spotted by a talent agent while still in his teens. He landed a job as an understudy in the Broadway production of Sidney Kingsley’s heralded drama “Dead End.”
Although he got to play the role of the Dead End Kids’ leader on stage only one time, it led him to Hollywood where he landed bit parts in such films as “Little Tough Guy” (uncredited) and “Juvenile Hall” (as Dick Selzer).
He abandoned his acting career in 1958 after failing to make it in movies and switched to fashion design. He claimed to be the first to make designer jeans for women, and his salon had begun to attract a few Hollywood names when he issued his first list covering the fashion faux pas of 1960. (Italian star Anna Magnani and Gabor were among his early victims.)
It quickly brought him the celebrity he had long coveted, and he quickly became a favorite on the TV talk show circuit. He hosted his own show, “Mr. Blackwell Presents,” in 1968 and appeared as himself in such TV shows as “Matlock” and “Matt Houston.”
In 1992, he sued Johnny Carson for claiming that he had added Mother Teresa to his list, saying the comment exposed him to hatred and ridicule. NBC’s response was that the “Tonight Show” host was obviously joking.
“Did you see what he said about Mother Teresa? ‘Miss Nerdy Nun is a fashion no-no,’” Carson had said. “Come on now, that’s just too much.”
During his heyday the issuing of Blackwell’s annual list was an eagerly anticipated media event.
On the second Tuesday in January he would assemble reporters at his mansion for a lavish breakfast before making a dramatic entrance for the television cameras.
By the turning of the millennium, however, the list had lost its juice and Blackwell took to issuing it by e-mail.
Born Richard Sylvan Selzer in 1922, Blackwell recounted in his autobiography, “From Rags to Bitches,” a troubled, poverty-ridden childhood in which he was variously a truant, thief and prostitute.
He is survived by Robert Spencer, his partner of nearly 60 years.
‘Anonymous’ Hacker Faces 10 Years In Jail For Scientology Attack
The conflict between the group Anonymous and the Church of Scientology is a secret to no one, but secrecy of the group may have just been broken, after 18-year-old Dimitriy Guzner admitted to hacking the Church’s website, and being a member of the hacker group.
Guzner pleaded guilty to charges of hacking the website, and agreed to pay a $37,500 fee. The young man also faces 10 years in jail for his act, but the sentence in his case is yet to be announced. According to court papers, Guzner caused the transmission of information, codes and commands, which caused damage by impairing the integrity and availability of data on websites belonging to the Church of Scientology, which caused loss to one or more persons of $5,000.
Anonymous began its official protest against the Church of Scientology at the beginning of this year, when they directed a DDOS attack to the church’s website, forcing them to move it to a new server. The church felt the need to respond, and posted a video on how Anonymous was allegedly instigating to hate crimes against the church and its members.
The group of vigilantes, which the church called “cyber-terrorists,” has created a worldwide movement, and has since organized public protests against the church in cities across the globe, also promising not to rest until they accomplish three main purposes: save people from Scientology by reversing their brainwashing, cause current Scientologists to doubt their religion, and obtain epic and memorable lulz.
The situation got to a point where it may not be as funny for Anonymous anymore, especially, as they’re trying hard to reconstruct their website, but that doesn’t seem to stop them. The authorities are still finding it hard to expose the members of the group, especially since the group itself appears to have no leader, but mere just volunteers.
Both Anonymous and the church have arguments against each other. The church obviously feels threatened by Anonymous’ protests, but at the same time, is not willing to respond to many of the questions asked about them, such as why or how did the church get the tax-exempt status; the church also denies claims by former employees about “recruiting” Hollywood stars to promote the church even more.
In March this year, the Church of Scientology even filed a petition to a judge, alleging acts of vandalism on its churches from “Anonymous members,” requesting a ban to stop the members of the Anonymous group from getting closer than 500 feet of any of the Scientology buildings.
Unfortunately for the church, the claim was not only strange – putting a ban on a group of unknown people was clearly impossible – but was also in contradiction with what the Anonymous members had done, which is peacefully protest against the Church.
“The Church of Scientology is attempting to suppress the unalienable rights of United States citizens,” Anonymous said at the time. “This demonstrates once again that Church of Scientology leaders do not wish to operate in an environment where free speech is permitted.”
The authorities will continue investigation in the hacking case. Most recently, the Anonymous group was also connected to another famous hack, that of presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s email, when they posted the content of her e-mails on line. Authorities charged 20-year-old David Kernell in this case.
Xbox 360 Outsells PS3 in America
Video game industry continues to be healthy despite economic downturn
According to data from market research firmNPD, the Xbox 360 outsold the PS3 in September. Nintendo continued to lead sales charts with 687, 000 Wii and 537,000 DS systems sold. The Xbox 360 sold 347,000 consoles compared to the PlayStation 3’s 232,000 consoles. The PlayStation Portable sold 238,000 units and 173,000 PlayStation 2s were also sold as well.
The increase in Xbox 360 sales follows price cuts made in early September. Compared to September 2007, the overall video game market was down 7 percent according to a Reutersarticle that summarized the NPD statistics. Several factors contributed to this decline as last September was when the much anticipated Halo 3 was released which had a large impact on software and hardware sales. According to NPD analyst Anita Frazier Halo 3 generated a full 35 percent of software sales for all of 2007.
Frazier’s analysis of the NPD numbers were discussed in a Gamasutra article where it is mentioned that decline in prices of each of the videogame consoles also contributed to the overall decline. According to Frazier, “Hardware unit sales were flat versus last year so the decline in dollars is due to lower prices. The average retail price of hardware across all platforms declined 8% from last September.”
Despite the decline in September sales compared to the previous year, the video game industry continues to be healthy. Frazier states, “Overall, the health of the video games industry remains quite strong despite the rocky economic conditions. Tracking against typical industry seasonality, the U.S. video games industry is positioned to realize $22B or more in revenues for the year.”
Overall, the market is at $11.82 billion in sales for January to September 2008, compared to $9.38 billion in sales for the same period in 2007.
Apple’s new 13-inch MacBook impresses
In case you missed it after checking out our rumor mill posts,live coverage of the Apple press conference, and even ourcollection of “unboxing” pictures of the actual hardware, you can now read CNET’s full review of Apple’s new 13-inch MacBook.
The new MacBook's bigger touchpad.
The redesigned MacBook is a solid improvement on an already well-loved system. The new aluminum frame essentially makes it a smaller version of the MacBook Pro, and even the new Nvidia chipset and integrated graphics are impressive, offering playable frame rates in games such as Quake IV and Call of Duty 4 (as long as you keep your expectations modest).
It’s a shame the entry $1,099 price is gone (replaced by a $999 version of the previous plastic MacBook model), and that the FireWire port went out to get some milk and never came home. Otherwise, we’re calling this one an overall winner.
SOURCE: CNET
Apple Shoots Spitballs Back at Microsoft in New Ads
Apple is taking a few more potshots at Microsoft in two new “Mac vs. Pc” ads that went live yesterday.
“Bean Counter” (above) takes Microsoft to task for spending $300 million to advertise a highly criticized product (Vista) instead of fixing its flaws. Then there’s “The V Word,” which tweaks Microsoft for trying to sell a product (Vista) without mentioning it by name.
With both Apple and Microsoft directly referencing each other in their ads, this volley is getting to be a bit of insider baseball. Apple has long been lobbing spitballs at Microsoft with its John Hodgman/Justin Long ad campaign, while Microsoft’s John Hodgman look alike stating “I’m a PC … and I’ve been made into a stereotype,” tries to win sympathy points for being used as the butt of the joke in Mac ads.
These ads may not make much sense to consumers who aren’t paying close attention to the tug of war between Apple and Microsoft, but they do highlight one difference between the two companies. When Apple throws a criticism at Microsoft, it usually hits the target.
Warm weather ahead
Las Vegas will enjoy the benefit of clear skies and warm weather this week, as temperatures stay a few degrees above normal.
The National Weather Service is forecasting a high today of 85 degrees, with sunny skies and a light northerly wind.
Weather service records show the normal high temperature for this date is 79 degrees and the record high is 95 degrees, set in 1940. The normal low for this date is 55 degrees, and the record low of 36 degrees was set in 1943.
At 6:30 a.m., the temperature at McCarran International Airport was 64 degrees, which was the low for the day.
The forecast calls for high temperatures in the mid 80s for the rest of the week, with lows in the 60s through Wednesday morning, the weather service said.
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