Sunday, September 30, 2012

News and Society -Crime News Blog: Penn State in the Wake of The ...

Penn State has been in the news a lot recently due to the Jerry Sandusky scandal. A number of high officials have been implicated, the NCAA has slapped Penn State with serious sanctions, and once-hero Joe Paterno's statue was removed recently after a plane flew over campus demanding it be taken down. Some say that no press is bad press, but is this really the case here?

The anger people feel is understandable. There was serious injustice taking place, the rape of innocence and violations of trust. When justice is subverted and crimes hidden, people naturally are outraged. Why didn't someone who knew about this situation do something to stop it? If the proper channels of communication and law were not blocked by people in positions of power, then this case would have been resolved long ago. Instead, it seems these people did not want the public relations nightmare that would ensue if this story reached the light of day. But it eventually did.

Now that the Sandusky Scandal reached its crescendo with the guilty verdict, the community is faced with a situation that is much worse than if people had done the right thing when they could have. This would have saved boys from torment, which is most important, but it would have also saved The Penn State University and surrounding State College community from a great deal of headache and heartache. It can be compared to ripping off a band-aid quickly. It will hurt a bit at first, but it's much better than the agonizing pain of peeling it off slowly. Instead of being in the process of healing, the pain continues.

This is not just about the football program, the college, the community, or the state of Pennsylvania. The lessons that can be learned here can be applied to our nation and our world at large. When action can be taken to rectify a terrible situation, it is best to act swiftly to do the right thing, even though it may seem dangerous or unpopular at first. Justice will eventually uncover the criminals, and so it is much better to be a part of the solution, rather than to help prolong the problem.

The wrongdoers are facing penalties for their actions, but because of all the negative media coverage, they have sullied the reputations of many innocent people associated with Penn State. Perhaps there will be some good that comes from this all, though it is hard to see now. As the football program licks its wounds, some of the other sports could take the spotlight. Maybe there will be an increased focus on academic excellence. And what if this scandal inspires more young people to seek social justice?

What do you think? Will Penn State be able to weather this storm, repair its damaged reputation, and come through this tragic situation stronger? And can all of this negative coverage be used for something good?

Kyle Hunt works at Hunt Law, a criminal defense firm in State College, PA. http://www.ehuntlaw.com/

Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert

Source: http://newsandsociety-crimenews.blogspot.com/2012/09/penn-state-in-wake-of-sandusky-scandal.html

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Hafeez confident ahead of India clash ? Cricket News Update ...

Hafeez confident ahead of India clash ? Cricket News Update

Pakistan skipper Mohammad Hafeez is taking heart from his side?s comprehensive five-wicket win over India in the world cup warm-up match as the arch rivals gear up to face off in a crunch Super Eight match, here at the R Premadasa Stadium, in Colombo, on Sunday, September 30, 2012.

?Everyone is looking forward to the India match. Since we have won against them in the warm-up game, it will give us confidence going into the match,? said the prolific all-rounder while speaking to media reporters on the eve of the clash of titans, here in Colombo.

The two sides had clashed in a practice match at the same venue prior to the World Cup, and Hafeez? Men in Green had won that high scoring fixture, despite a middle order collapse. India, after opting to bat first, rode on Virat Kohli?s unbeaten 75, well complemented by Rohit Sharma's 40-ball 56, to put a competitive 185 for 3 on board.

In reply Pakistan were struggling at 91 for 5 in the 12th over, but Kamran Akmal and Shoaib Malik played wonderful cricket to take the side home, with five balls and five wickets to spare. Akmal played a whirlwind knock of 92 not out, off just 50 balls, plundering six sixes and five fours, while Malik returned unbeaten on 18-ball 37.

?That victory has been a real morale booster for us and the boys are upbeat and raring to go against India,? Hafeez added further.

The Pakistan skipper also dismissed the pressure talks saying they have played enough against Dhoni and his men in the past and are up for the challenge.

"For us, the match against India is like another game. We have played them a lot in the past and that pressure is not there anymore," insisted the all-rounder, who was given the reins of the national T20 side in May this year.

Pakistan go into today?s Super Eight fixture against nemesis India at the back of a close win against South Africa, and Hafeez said that his side was brimming with confidence after clinching the thrilling victory over the Proteas.

Source: http://blogs.bettor.com/Hafeez-confident-ahead-of-India-clash-Cricket-News-Update-a191245

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European cargo craft undocks from space station

(AP) ? The European Space Agency says its cargo craft has successfully undocked from the International Space Station after a failed separation caused by communication problems earlier in the week.

The ATV-3 detached from the Russian service module early Saturday and is expected to leave orbit and be jettisoned Tuesday into an unpopulated area of the South Pacific. The ATV-3 launched in March from a facility in the South American country of French Guiana with more than seven tons of food, water and other supplies for the space station.

It has been loaded with waste for disposal. Three astronauts are set to travel to the space station next month, bringing to six the number of crewmembers at the orbiting laboratory.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2012-09-29-EU-SCI-Space-Station/id-1c12ab00944049f489c9d60e18576cd5

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Saturday, September 29, 2012

Beware Rogue Online Pharmacies, FDA Says

Shopping online is the way of the world these days, but not all e-commerce transactions are created equal. Buying a saut? pan on Amazon? Not a risky venture. Buying antibiotics from an online pharmacy that didn?t ask for a prescription? You?re asking for trouble.

The Food and Drug Administration issued a warning to people who buy their prescription dugs online: buyer beware. Many online pharmacies are fake, the agency says, selling medications that may make you sick.

?Buying medicines from rogue online pharmacies can be risky because they may sell fake, expired, contaminated, not approved by FDA, or otherwise unsafe products that are dangerous to patients,? FDA commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg, said in a news release. ?Fraudulent and illegal online pharmacies often offer deeply discounted products.?

Bottom line: if prices for prescription meds sound too good to be true, they probably are.

MORE: Counterfeit Medications Thwart Global Efforts to Treat Dangerous Diseases

Almost 25 percent of people who shop on the Internet have bought prescription drugs online, the FDA says. And 30 percent of those people said they weren?t sure about how to safely purchase medication that way.

They?ll need to come up to speed quickly, since the National Association of Board of Pharmacy says that less than 3 percent of online pharmacies are in line with federal and state laws.

While the FDA didn?t say if online prescription drug shopping has increased, some other recent statistics may shed some light on the issue. A recent study in the journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience found that a record 4.02 billion prescriptions were written in 2011, up from 3.99 billion in 2010.

MORE: Fewer Young Adults are Abusing Prescription Drugs

But Americans are having more trouble paying for those drugs. Consumer Reports said recently that a struggling economy is forcing more Americans to cut back on healthcare needs, including skimping on medications.

Along with the warning the FDA launched its BeSafeRx?Know Your Online Pharmacy campaign, which offers information on the dangers of buying medication from a fake online pharmacy, and how to tell a reputable business from a shady one.

Some tips: a legit pharmacy will ask for a valid medical prescription from a doctor or other healthcare professional, a licensed pharmacist will be available for questions, and it will be licensed by the state board of pharmacy.

Have you bought prescription drugs from an online pharmacy? Let us know in the comments.

Related Stories on TakePart:

? Study Uncovers Alarming Worldwide Rates of Drug-Resistant TB

? Calling All Baby Boomers: The CDC Wants You to Get Tested for Hepatitis C

? Quick Study: Statins' Benefits Outweigh Diabetes Risk


Jeannine Stein, a California native, wrote about health for the Los Angeles Times. In her pursuit of a healthy lifestyle she has taken countless fitness classes, hiked in Nepal, and has gotten in a boxing ring. Email Jeannine | TakePart.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/beware-rogue-online-pharmacies-fda-says-004027897.html

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Healthy Optimism and A Positive Attitude - The Self Improvement Blog

flyingBy Dr. Robert Henry Schwenk -

Healthy Optimism Will Get You Far

If you want to fly unaided, using only your hands and arms, no amount of positive thinking will allow you to do that flying. As a matter of fact, of course, if you stand on the top corner of a high building and spread your arms and hands and expect to fly when you jump off that building you will kill yourself.

On the other hand, healthy optimism will get you farther down the road of life than pessimism. Health and wealth are just two of the possibilities that may come your way when you hold a consistently positive attitude.

Studies have shown that people who are consistently affirmative in their attitude toward everything and everybody enjoy better health than those who do not. A whole craze has grown up around casting positive vibrations upon the Universe, expecting positive return on thoughts and feelings from the Universe.

Neither Too Hot Nor Too Cold

Healthy optimism, in my opinion, is somewhere between fatalistic pessimism and irresponsible optimism, sometimes called Pollyanna-ism. Fatalistic pessimism might be defined as believing that everything, all the time, will turn out poorly or badly. Irresponsible optimism might be defined as the attitude that everything all the time will turn out well or good. That one can fly unaided would be irresponsible optimism; that one can never fly in any way might be fatalistic pessimism.

Healthy optimism has got to be somewhere in between.

You Can Fly

Of course, you can fly ? in a plane or a giant kite or in the newer para-suits where you look like a flying squirrel. The person who set out to learn to fly, by holding a positive attitude, kept working and inventing until human flight become possible. Enter the Wright brothers and their flying machine.

So positive thought long held will produce results. Those results can be, literally, in any walk of life, through any occupation or avocation. Your life can be improved through healthy optimism.

How Do I Get One?

Simply said, you develop a positive attitude by developing a positive attitude. Yes, I know the former sentence sounds redundant. But is it really redundant? If your attitude is negative at this time, you?ve got to turn things around by turning your mental posture in a different direction.

You?ve got to see the virtuous and benevolent in everything and everybody. Yes, I know that is not easy in every case. Sometimes it is downright difficult when it comes to some people or some disasters.

Your atrocious boss may try to browbeat you into submission with his impossible demands and deadlines. The tornado that destroyed your home and took all your possessions is not easy to see as presenting opportunities to find the good in it.

A Foundation Is Necessary

To develop and keep healthy optimism you need a foundation upon which to build. You need a place where you may position your confidence that things will turn out, if not for the best, than better than first might meet the eye.

You find such a foundation in the meaning of life, which, I believe, is to be happy. You find that happiness by developing a genuine relationship with The All There Is. You develop that relationship by being in constant touch with The All There Is through such activities as the many forms of meditation.

In that relationship you will find total and complete acceptance from The All There Is. In that absolute acceptance you will find happiness that weathers every and all conditions. There is no greater feeling of well-being than to be perfectly accepted just as you are right now. A supreme feeling of well-being is happiness. Said another way, happiness is a feeling of constant well-being.

Develop That Base

Use one of the forms of meditation and begin today to develop healthy optimism that your life be positive. You can turn your life around in this moment by deciding you will develop the foundation and the relationship that leads to the ability to maintain positivity.

Get to it.

I invite you to be Happier In Five Minutes http://www.createspace.com/3724772 and for the Rest of Your Life This book will give a great start on being happy. Buy it now.

Kindle Version: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007TVBI36

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr._Robert_Henry_Schwenk
http://EzineArticles.com/?Healthy-Optimism-and-A-Positive-Attitude&id=7297654

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Source: http://theselfimprovementblog.com/self-improvement/self-improvement-tips/healthy-optimism-and-a-positive-attitude/

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Friday, September 28, 2012

Blasphemy as civic duty and moral obligation // Current TV

Blasphemy is not a crime; blasphemy is a civic duty. It is the moral obligation of clear thinking, reasonable people to stand up and speak out against religious superstition and ignorance.

Recent events in the Middle East have ignited a new push towards an international law criminalizing blasphemy. The consideration of any such draconian legislation or regulation should be of deep concern to all those who cherish free-speech, rational thought and civilized society.

Blasphemy is defined as the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for a religious deity, or showing irreverence towards religious or holy persons or things. Yet how else is an honest and reasonable person to treat religious ignorance and superstition?

A lack of reverence for religious nonsense is a sane and healthy response to the irrational. Belief in supernatural nonsense deserves scorn and contempt. While individuals who have fallen victim to religious delusion deserve pity and empathy, the nonsense that is religious belief deserves no such concern.

Indeed, reasonable people must recognize that religious belief constitutes a clear and present danger to the human species. Currently it is dangerous in many parts of the world to express the simple fact that there is no convincing evidence for God, or to even draw a picture of a certain holy figure. Such a state of affairs is an affront to humanity, and should be at once both intolerable and repugnant to all good people.

Some will argue that not all religious superstition is the same, and that Islam is more dangerous than competing superstitions such as Judaism and Christianity. And while it may be true that at this particular point in history the extremes of Islam prove more offensive than competing superstitions, there is no doubt that given the right set of circumstances extremists of the Christian or Jewish faith would be equally abusive and draconian in their attempts to subjugate a population.

A great man once said ?Religion poisons everything.? There is no more pressing or profound truth given the current global situation. Blasphemy is a legitimate and potent force in the fight against religious ignorance and superstition. Religious nonsense must be exposed to the light of day if we are to eliminate the toxin that threatens all of us.

Sunlight is the best disinfectant; and if shining a light on religious ignorance and superstition is blasphemy, than blasphemy is a civic duty, and a moral obligation.

http://www.examiner.com/article/blasphemy-as-civic-duty-and-moral-obligation

Source: http://current.com/community/93913452_blasphemy-as-civic-duty-and-moral-obligation.htm?xid=RSSfeed

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Full Metal Panic!: Nightmare's Beginning!

If you enjoyed the manga and/or the anime of Full Metal Panic! then you should get a kick out of this RP. If you're a fan of anime or manga that depicts Mech suits of any kind, this RP should still be right up your alley. Designed with the original story and concepts in mind of Full Metal Panic!, this RP takes place not long after the events of the anime's conclusion of the story from The Second Raid and continues the fight against Amalgam through the eyes of a new unit known as "Gaea Team".

What is Gaea Team, you ask?

Gaea Team is the newest addition to the SRT, or the Special Response Team within the organization of Mithril. After the success of the Uruz Team, a new unit was developed with the intention of increasing the scope and range of the SRT's combat capabilities worldwide. Uruz Team can only be in one location at once, so Gaea Team was brought in to help create a newer but just as efficient team to the SRT so that Uruz Team would not have to bear the burden of "first into battle" alone.

Using specialized Mech Suits known as Arm Slaves, Gaea Team, like Uruz Team before them, are now on a mission to the front lines of the conflict with Amalgam and other terrorist organizations worldwide so that the world can breath a sigh of relief from the chaos that these groups have wrought.

What are Arm Slaves?

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Arm Slaves are mecha's which stand approximately 8-9 meters in height depending on the model and manufacturer (as well as the owner's spec preferences). These mecha's are strong, fast, durable, and dangerous. Consider them to be giant suits of armor because, as an Arm Slave pilot, you will be inside the machine and control its every move and attack. Fairly simple really.

What's the reason behind the Arm Slaves in this RP?

An excellent question!

Arm Slaves in this RP are basically there to ensure that you are going to kick ass in the RP's combat scenes. As well as having a character who can take care of themselves without the Mech, I'm basically giving you permission to god-mode during these combat scenes unless there happens to be a very special weapon amongst the enemy's ranks, and I guarantee you there will be. This device is known as the Lambda Driver, and it has the ability to turn the user's will into actual physical power.

Need a further explanation? Here!

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This is a screen shot from the Second Raid where the main character, Sosuke Sagara and his Arm Slave ARX-7 Arbalest, are making use of the Lambda Driver to destroy an incoming round from a tank which would otherwise severely damage or destroy the Arbalest. Sosuke could not use this machine consciously, and it was activated by his instinct and need to protect himself. This instability is common to almost all Lambda Driver machines, but certain drugs and special training help one maintain control over the machine to the point where using it is second nature completely rather than just instinct.

Will I get to have a Lambda Driver in the RP?

While normally I would be inclined to say "yes", this content is not of my own creation and I am not going to change the original story concept just so everyone can have a Lambda Driver. This adds to the challenge of the RP. Since you don't have Lambda Drivers yourselves but will undoubtedly face them in combat, it makes the RP harder and more dangerous for you! Isn't that wonderful!?

Anyway...

Within the world of Full Metal Panic!, Amalgam is the only known organization with open access to the Lambda Driver though the reasons for why they have such access remains unknown. Amalgam has deployed it numerous times in combat against Mithril and other organizations who got in their way and it is clear that they do not fear the machine's power. Within the organization of Mithril Sosuke Sagara's ARX-7 Arbalest is the only known machine to carry the Lambda Driver and Sosuke is not a playable character within this RP.

However...

There is going to be a bit of good news for those who join and dream of operating an Arm Slave equipped with a Lambda Driver. Though you cannot start with a Lambda Driver, you might be able to have access to one in the later stages of the RP. My character, Blaze was once a member of Amalgam and his Arm Slave was loaded with a Lambda Driver unit. When he was captured by Mithril and defected to their side, the Lambda Driver was removed from his Arm Slave for study and possible mass production. Whether this holds true in the RP or not remains to be seen but there is hope! However, the number of Lambda Drivers is going to be limited and not everyone is going to get one.

Oh I'm evil... >:)

Has anything from the original story of Full Metal Panic! changed at all?

No.

Despite the fact that Uruz Team will not be mentioned very often or interacted with at any time, this story puts all who join in the shoes of Mithril operatives within Gaea Team. Utilizing Arm Slave units and making extensive use of Amalgam and other terrorist organizations as opponents throughout the story, I have done all I can to ensure an enjoyable experience that stays as close to the original content as possible. There will be a few twists of course, but the main content of the story is all based on the original design.

What can I expect from this RP?

This RP is basically a story seen and told through the eyes of the members of Gaea Team. Being a unit within the Special Response Team of Mithril, you can expect to see a lot of combat both in and out of your Arm Slave Unit. Each Arm Slave is customizable by the respective owner so long as they stay true to the specs of the basic design and model such as an M9 Gernsback. There is going to be plenty of intrigue as well within this story, and plot twists will be common enough to keep you on your toes. This RP is going to be both interesting and challenging to fans and newcomers alike, though fans will enjoy it the most.

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I don't know what Full Metal Panic! is, so can I still join and look forward to a good experience without prior knowledge to the original content?

Absolutely!

Whether you know what is involved in Full Metal Panic! is not what's important. What is important is that you read the information and descriptions carefully and adhere to the rules of the RP. So long as you do that, you are cleared to submit a character for the RP. It helps to have a basic understanding of combat, physics, and science. If you do decide to join and you don't know much about Full Metal Panic!, I would highly suggest visiting wikipedia to read up on "Black Technology" and "Whispereds" from the series as those two subjects will give you the best idea of what to expect.

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I sincerely hope that this has caught your interest! See you inside!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/l5y2jw11AOk/viewtopic.php

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