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Think Quote, Year 01, Day 093

Posted by Aldie at 2:04 PM | 0 comments

Be all you can be.
(US Army)

Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.
(Thomas Jefferson)

Words may show a man's wit but actions his meaning.
(Benjamin Franklin)

A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.
(Baltasar Gracian)
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Bodies of 1,000 dead in Japan too toxic to handle

Posted by Aldie at 8:42 AM | 0 comments

Antara News, Sat, April 2 2011

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Moscow (ANTARA News/RIA Novosti-OANA) - The Japanese authorities say 1,000 dead bodies scattered around Japan`s troubled Fukushima power plant are too radioactive for emergency workers to collect, Kyodo news agency reported on Friday.

The bodies of those killed in devastating earthquake and tsunami that swept the region in mid-March were contaminated when radiation began leaking from the damaged reactors at the plant.

"After people died their bodies were exposed to high levels of radiation," a police source said.

Experts partially confirmed the information, saying they had found high radiation levels in a body found in the village of Okuma, five kilometers from the power plant.

Police warned that collecting the bodies would spread contamination outside of the evacuation zone, set at 20 kilometers.Over 11,000 people died and 16,500 are still missing from the twin disaster.

Editor: Aditia Maruli

Related Article:

Radioactive water seeps into sea from stricken nuclear plant


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Sumatra on alert as bird flu comes back

Posted by Aldie at 8:10 AM | 0 comments

Antara News, Fardah, Sat, April 2 2011

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Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The sudden death of thousands of chickens has been reported in several cities on Sumatra Island over the past several months.

Local health authorities have confirmed that most of the chickens had died of bird flu or avian influenza (H5N1).

The poultry deaths due to bird flu have occurred among other things in the Sumatran provinces of West Sumatra, Bengkulu, Jambi and Bangka Belitung.

In Padang, West Sumatra, the M Jamil General Hospital had treated a total of 27 patients suspected of being infected with the bird flu virus since January 2011.

Padang is the worst-affected city in West Sumatra, as 24 of the total 27 patients are residents of the city, according to Gustavianof, a spokesman of the M Jamil Public Hospital.

"While patients from outside Padang, include one from Bukittinggi, one from Pesisir Selatan District, and another from Dharmasraya," he said in Padang, Thursday (March 31).

Up to Thursday, two patients were still undergoing intensive treatment at the hospital.

The hospital has taken blood samples from the two patients and sent them to the laboratory of the Jakarta-based health ministry`s Health Development and Research Agency (Balitbangkes), to confirm whether they are negative or positive of bird flu virus infection.

In 2009, the M Jamil Public hospital had treated nine bird flu suspect cases, and seven cases in 2010, including one patient that had died while being treated in the hospital.

A total of 1,866 chickens were dead in Payakumbuh city, West Sumatra Province recently.

West Sumatra has prepared two hospitals, including M Jamil Public Hospital, to give free-of-charge medical treatment to patients suspected of having been infected by the H5N1 virus.

As H5N1 virus cases have been reported in many regions in Bengkulu Province, also on Sumatra Island, the province has declared that the province is on alert of bird flu.

"Although the number of bird flu cases does not increase, Bengkulu is still cautious of bird flu, and we ask the local residents to monitor their poultry," Emran Kuswadi, Coordinator of Local Disease Control Center (LDCC), said in Bengkulu, last Tuesday (29/3).

Up to now, a total of 1,881 chickens had been killed by the bird flu virus in Bengkulu, according to Emran.

Seven districts - Bengkulu, Seluma, Lebong, Bengkulu Tengah, Kepahiang, Kaur and Rejang Lebong - have been particularly declared bird flu alert.

The worst bird flu-affected district is Seluma where 1,175 chickens died of the H5N1 virus at two sub districts, he said.

In Jambi, bird flu has reportedly killed several hundred chickens in Kerinci District, Jambi Kota, and Jambi Luar Kota neighborhoods.

The virus has infected a number of chickens in four villages of Kota Jambi subdistrict and had spread to Pijoan village, Jambi Luar Kota subdistrict.

Head of Muarojambi district`s veterinarian office Paruhuman Lubis said, "We have checked that there are chickens that suddenly died but we cannot confirm yet whether they are infected by the (bird flu) virus or not."

In Bangka Belitung (Babel) Province, at least 484 chickens had died during January and February 2011. Junaidy of the local animal husbandry office, confirmed in Pangkalpinang, that they had been infected with bird flu virus.

Despite the reports of bird flu breakout in some parts of Sumatra, there are no reports of confirmed cases of human infection with bird flu virus or fatalities on the island this year.

In fact, the health ministry recently announced a confirmed case of human infection with bird flu virus on Java Island.

The case concerned a 28 year old female from Gunung Kidul district, Yogyakarta Province. She developed symptoms on 1 March, was admitted to a health care facility on 6 March and referred to a hospital on 11 March. She died on 14 March, according to the Avian Influenza Update on the official website of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Indonesia has been infected by bird flu since 2005, but the situation has been relatively under control over the past few years.

Of the total 176 cases confirmed to date in Indonesia, 145 have been fatal, according to WHO.

According to the WHO fact sheet, Avian influenza (AI), commonly called bird flu, is an infectious viral disease of birds. Outbreaks of AI in poultry may raise global public health concerns due to their effect on poultry populations, their potential to cause serious disease in people, and their pandemic potential.

The majority of human cases of H5N1 infection have been associated with direct or indirect contact with infected live or dead poultry. There is no evidence that the disease can be spread to people through properly cooked food. Controlling the disease in animals is the first step in decreasing risks to humans.

The Indonesian health and agriculture ministries have received helping hands from countries such as the United States and Australia in fighting the bird flu problem.

The Australian Government has set up a $22 million, four-year project to help Indonesia control the spread of bird flu.

"The news comes after two people died in West Java of bird flu, and more cases of sick birds were reported in Bali," ABC reported on March 28, 2011 .

A project called the Strategies Against Flu Emergence (SAFE) is launched by the US government in partnership Indonesia to reduce the impact of Avian Influenza (AI) on animals and humans and limit the threat of pandemic influenza in Indonesia.

"Avian influenza continues to pose a serious public health and pandemic threat for Indonesia and the world," USAID/Indonesia Mission Director Walter North said in a press release issued by the US embassy in Jakarta Friday (April 1).

The SAFE project will collaborate with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and WHO to promote early detection and healthier behavior in AI high-risk districts.

Editor: Aditia Maruli

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Calls to stop mistreating autistic children in Indonesia

Posted by Aldie at 7:43 AM | 0 comments

Antara News, Rahmad Nasution, Sat, April 2 2011


"The very basic treatment of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder is sincere care and love. Please give them both sincere care and true love"


Jakarta (ANTARA News) - World Autism Day was commemorated in various cities in Indonesia on Saturday with a common message for better care and treatment of children with the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Hundreds of people, including parents with autistic children and teenagers, jogged and walked together in cities like the national capital city Jakarta, Medan (North Sumatra) and Magelang (Central Java).

What they expected from the commemoration was that misunderstanding and misleading perception of children with the ASD in Indonesia put to an end.

Acting North Sumatra Governor Gatot Pujo Nugroho, who joined the commemoration of World Autism Day in Medan, underlined the importance of good care for those with autism as their best remedy.

"The very basic treatment of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder is sincere care and love. Please give them both sincere care and true love," Nugroho said.

The children with ASD in Indonesia are still not understood enough and even bullied by their peers and adult people in their neighborhood and, much worse than that, also by those running regular schools.

Despite the fact that autism has nothing to do with a disease, the children with ASD are frequently regarded as "insane" people by certain people in the society due to their ignorance and poor knowledge about them.

Irma, whose kid named Dava is autistic, urged the people-at large to change their mindset about children with ASD. Instead, they need to have a deeper empathy and care for the "special children", she said.

A day before World Autism Day, Irma and some other parents with autistic children gathered at a luxurious restaurant in Central Jakarta along with Indonesia`s outstanding actress and film producer, Christine Hakim, for launching a documentary film on children with ASD entitled "Love Me As I Am".

Those attending the launching of this 45-minute-long film were the parents of 12-year-old Emilio, whose paintings were highly praised by collectors, and Michael Anthony, a pianist.

Christine Hakim said the docudrama featuring the real life and great potentials of the children and teenagers with ASD in greater Jakarta was expected to start changing the society members` misunderstanding about them.

"Until this time, the image of children with ASD remains unfairly negative. Due to poor knowledge and misunderstanding, their families also like denying the reality of life. This docudrama is expected to change the people`s assumption on children with ASD," she said.

This UNESCO goodwill ambassador said autism was not a sort of ailment or mental disorder as psychologists and medical scientists thought. Instead, the children with ASD have extraordinary cognitive potentials.

With their given potentials, those children could bring good things not only for themselves, their families, and their neighborhoods but also for their country if they were treated and educated properly, Christine Hakim said.

"With this documentary film, we hope there will be no more children with ASD who are isolated and regular schools which reject them. Education is the rights of all children," she said.

Sharing Christine Hakim`s views, the film producer, Dr.Ir.Ricky Avenzora, M.Sc.F, said the children with ASD who played in the film were indeed the "hope" of Indonesia because each of them had great cognitive potentials.

"Albert Einstein himself (one of the world`s greatest scientists-ed) is an autistic person," he said, adding that this docudrama would officially be shown to public on a TV station when Indonesians commemorated the national education day on May 2, 2011.

The high prevalence of children with ASD in Indonesia could bring excellent things for the nation if their great cognitive potentials were properly handled, he said.

As part of the efforts to create a proper understanding about and new awareness of children with ASD in the society, Ricky Avenzora said the film would be shown at a number of leading universities in different Indonesian cities.

"Besides showing the film, as part of our roadshows, we also plan to hold seminars and trainings for teachers and parents, and create caring community for those with ASD in such targeted cities as Medan, Padang, Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, and Makassar," he said.

Through the roadshows, the campus community members in Indonesia were expected to pay more serious attention to academic studies on children with ASD and start building collaborative research activities among themselves, he said.

Gading Pluit Hospital`s Consultant Neurologist Andreas Harry who financially supported this docudrama said the film was a chance to unite a new perception of the children with ASD.

Due to the scientific quality of its content, he said he was optimistic that the film was not only significant for Indonesia but also the world community members.

Changing the public misunderstanding about autistic children and creating a new awareness of the great cognitive potentials of those "special children" is not an easy work.

But, as Christine Hakim believes, with persistence and massive efforts of all stakeholders in Indonesia, the children with ASD in the country can be treated as they should be. They have the rights to be "loved as they are"!.

Editor: Aditia Maruli

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Think Quote, Year 01, Day 092

Posted by Aldie at 2:04 PM | 0 comments

You may delay, but time will not.
(Benjamin Franklin)

Welcome to the 77th and last Oscars.
(Chris Rock)

I had never done animation, so I thought it would be cool to try something different
(Selena Gomez)
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questions for candidates

Posted by Aldie at 11:34 AM | 0 comments

From the Canadian Breast Cancer Network: Questions to ask your local candidates during the election campaign
 
Question 1: The Financial Impact of Breast Cancer
  
In May 2010, the Canadian Breast Cancer Network released the research report entitled Breast Cancer: Economic Impact & Labour Force Re-Entry, which firmly positioned breast cancer as an economic as well as a healthcare issue.
  
The economic impact of breast cancer is significant, and in many cases devastating for patients and their families. 80% of respondents experienced an economic impact following their diagnosis, often with distressing long-term financial consequences.
  
Some report findings:
  • Average decline in household income was $12,000 or 10% of family income
  • 44% of respondents used savings, while 27% took on debt
  • One fifth of respondents returned to work before they were ready because of financial pressure
  • Those who had chemotherapy had a greater loss of household income and were 49% more likely to take longer than 16 weeks off work
Survey respondents reported that the average duration of their breast cancer treatment was 38 weeks, and two-thirds of the respondents took 16 weeks or more off from work. Because Employment Insurance Sickness Benefits last for a maximum of 15 weeks, there was an average gap of 23 weeks during treatment without coverage.
  
If elected, will your government:
  
A. Lengthen Employment Insurance Sickness Benefits for Canadians undergoing treatment for breast and other cancers as well as other illnesses and chronic diseases that require long periods of treatment so that no one who is ill is penalized by the current limit of 15 weeks of sickness benefits?
  
B. Cancel the two-week waiting period for EI Sickness Benefits so that sick Canadians are not penalized?
  
C. Immediately extend the Employment Insurance Compassionate Care Benefit to cover family caregivers providing care to those with breast cancer, other cancers and other long-term conditions?
a. Increase the benefit to 75% of workers' earnings?
b. Increase the benefit period to a maximum of 52 weeks?
c. Allow partial weeks of compassionate care leave over a longer period?
d. Expand the eligibility criteria beyond imminent death within 26 weeks?
  

Question 2: Drug Approval Process in Canada
  
The drug approval process in Canada is lengthy and complex. Currently the performance targets as outlined on the Health Canada website is 300 days for "non-priority" drugs and 180 days for "priority" drugs.
  
Once drugs are approved by Health Canada, cancer drugs pass through the Pan-Canadian Oncology Drug Review (pCODR), formally the Joint Oncology Drug Review (JODR).This process can take up to a year for recommendation to be made. Provinces and territories may then either confirm or disagree with pCODR's recommendations, often resulting in further significant delays and an uneven patchwork of drug coverage across Canada.
  
Cancer patients in Canada face unduly long waits for much-needed drugs, and medications available in one province or territory may not be available in another. But when it comes to cancer treatment, especially for advanced or metastatic cancer, time is of the essence.
  
If elected, how will your government:
  
A. Ensure that the approval processes for new treatments are shortened to permit timely access to new treatments for those who need them

B. Ensure that no cancer patient in Canada goes without internationally recognized gold standard treatments
  

Question 3: Wait Times 

The Canadian Breast Cancer Network's 2008 Breast Cancer Wait Times in Canada Report Card showed that not all Canadian women are receiving equal access to breast cancer treatment. The project was undertaken in order to gather information about what happens across Canada in terms of wait times in four important areas: from abnormal screen to diagnosis, from diagnosis to surgery, time to radiation, time to chemotherapy.
  
We found some outstanding examples of best practices and much evidence that many jurisdictions across the country are working on innovative solutions to the wait time issue. However, the most disconcerting finding was that there are no national benchmarks for wait times and no standards for wait time reporting systems across the continuum of care. The data reported are calculated differently across jurisdictions making it impossible to compare wait times. This has not changed since 2008.
  
In the absence of comprehensive and consistent wait times data, there is no certainty that people diagnosed with breast cancer are receiving optimal care.
  
This is a complex issue. There needs to be national benchmarks for maximum wait times for diagnosis and treatment. Electronic health records must include consistent reporting of wait times across jurisdiction. Best practices must be shared and implemented across the country. Access to timely cancer care cannot depend upon ones postal code.
  
If elected, how will your government:
  
A) Provide the infrastructure necessary to ensure comprehensive and consistent standards for wait time reporting for breast cancer diagnosis and treatment across Canada

B) Ensure that national benchmarks are established for wait times associated with surgery and chemotherapy

C) Ensure the adoption of electronic health records
  
  
Join our survivor advocate campaign and make canada's decision makers aware of the issues that are important to you. Contact khurley@cbcn.ca for more information on how a little bit of your time can make a big impact.

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Google to Acquire Blogger

Posted by Aldie at 8:15 AM | 0 comments

Update: This was an April Fool's post. The acquisition was in 2003 :-)
--
Posted by Brett Wiltshire, Blogger CEO
[Cross-post from google.blogspot.com]

This morning we’re beyond thrilled to announce that Blogger has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Google, the Internet search company. This is exciting news not only for all of us on the Blogger team, but for our users, our partners, and most importantly -- the blogosphere itself.

Understandably, you probably have lots of questions about what this means for Blogger and Blogger users. Below, we've put together some initial answers to many of the biggest questions. More info will be available as we figure it out. Thanks for your support as we transfer into this next exciting phase.  


Q: Why did Blogger sell to Google?
A: Well, on the surface, it may look obvious: A company of Google's size could give Blogger the resources we needed to do things better, faster, bigger. It's been a long eleven+ years since we started the company, and not all of them were very fun. We had been making serious progress over the last year or so, but bootstrapping (growing without funding) is always a slow process, and we were a long way from where we wanted to be. We wanted to offer a better service. And with Google, it wasn't just their size, of course. They had clearly done an incredible job building their technology and business, and we'd been big fans.

However, that doesn't mean it was an easy decision. We'd seen many small companies doing interesting things die (or at least become uninteresting) after getting acquired. It was only after becoming convinced that: a) There were sensible, cool, powerful things we could do on the technology/product side with Google that we couldn't do otherwise; and b) It was a good company, run by people we liked, who wanted the same things we did (i.e., they wouldn't screw up Blogger or make our lives miserable).

We became convinced both of these were the case rather quickly after thinking about the product side and talking to lots of Googlers.   Also, Google liked our logo. And we liked their food.

Q: Will Blogger go away? 
A: Nope. Blogger is going to maintain its branding and services. While we may integrate with Google in certain areas there will always be a Blogger.

Q: What does the acquisition mean to Blogger users? 
A: Greater reliability, new innovative products and a whole lot more that we aren't ready to share quite yet (truth is, we're still figuring a lot of it out). Right now, we're mostly bolstering up our hardware -- making things faster and more reliable -- and getting settled. Next, we're going to be working on some killer ideas we've been wanting to implement for years. It'll be fun.

Q: Will there be any changes to my account? 
A: Not right now but if anything does change we will notify you ahead of time, as we've done in the past.

Q: Will there be any changes to the Blogger products? 
A: We will be making some changes in our product line. We've been working on a new version of Blogger for some time now that will be coming out soon. We'll tell you more as soon as we know.

Q: What are your plans for the future? 
A: We are building a nuclear powered... Wait, you almost had us. We aren't telling, yet! But we will have more in a few weeks.

Q: Does this mean my blog will rank higher in Google search results? 
A: Nope. It does mean your blog might be stored physically closer to Google but that's about it. The people at Google have done a great job over the years making sure their search results are honest and objective and there's no reason they would change that policy for Blogger or anyone else.

Q: What will happen to all the nice kids that work on Blogger? 
A: We’ll still be working on Blogger and making it better.

Q: Are you still as handsome as ever? 
A:

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