How many animals can you find?

Image source

Parents may not recognize bullies

Many fail to see aggressive behavior in their own children

“Some common misconceptions may lull the parents of bullies into failing to recognize warning signs.

Bullies are often star athletes or popular girls considered charismatic leaders by peers and adults, experts say. What's often missed or passed over as minor is a consistent pattern of control and aggression against other kids — behavior that socially savvy bullies can sometimes slide under the radar of grown-ups.” Photo source

Vintage B-Movies that may bring back memories

Bizarre titles, even stranger storylines, cheesy effects and dead-serious acting.

 All this adds to the esoteric charm, and even to the addiction that some people feel toward vintage movies and posters -

here are some examples that might tickle your fancy:

Multiple tours of duty linked to PTSD

 I’ve been writing about PTSD in the military for years. Because of my own experiences, and the help I got in counseling, I understand the condition. There’s been numerous books on the subject. Numerous magazine and newspaper articles have talked about PTSD being prevalent in returning combat veterans for years now.

The thing that troubles me the most is everyone already knows what a problem it is to send a man or woman into combat for numerous tours. This headline almost makes you think it was a new discovery. More importantly, why hasn’t something been done about it? Back in my time, we only HAD to do one tour in Vietnam. This new generation is facing multiple tours. How can any human be expected not to come out of them unscathed? It’s unrealistic, and to my way of thinking unfair.

It’s time that we, those who believe this practice is wrong, stand up and tell President Obama and the Pentagon warmongers to stop sacrificing these men and woman on the altar of their ambitions. Iraq and Afghanistan is this century’s Vietnam. When will we realize that and tell out politicians (of all parties) to stop the madness?

Veteran: ‘I wanted everything to stop. I had no peace at all.’

“It wasn't his first tour in Iraq, but his second and third when Joe Callan began wondering how long his luck would last — how many more months he could swerve around bombs buried in the dirt and duck mortars raining from the skies.It was only natural, considering the horrors he'd seen: One buddy killed when a mortar engulfed his tent in flames.”

Photo source

NYT: Doctors ‘tune in’ to hallucinogens again

Scientists study use of psychedelics to treat depression, anxiety, addiction

"It was a whole personality shift for me," says Clark Martin, a retired psychologist, on his participation in an experiment with a hallucinogen.”

View related photos

Photo by Alan S. Weiner for The New York Times

As It Stands: Tea Party Utopia: no taxes, no government

Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 04/11/2010 01:27:11 AM PDT

Give me liberty! Or, at least a tea party.

No. Not that kind. Not a party where women gather to sip tea, munch sweet confections, and exchange lively conversation. I mean the kind our forefathers had when they dumped the British tea into Boston Harbor. They were fed up with paying taxes on the popular beverage.

Have you had the opportunity to go to a modern, political tea party? Perhaps you've seen one on TV. They're messy affairs attended by people holding up misspelled signs and posters that show President Obama painted like the Joker in the Batman movies and comics.

Tea Party members fear (in no particular order) that Obama is the Anti-Christ, he's not really an American citizen, and he's a Communist. I've yet to see persons of a minority race at a political tea party. I'm not sure why that is. It would be nice to see the mainstream media showing tea party rallies that include people of different races calling to “get their country back.” I don't think that's happened yet. I could be wrong.

Go here to read the rest.                                                             Image source

Brutal bullies: What makes kids cruel?

Case of tormented teen raises disturbing questions

Excerpt:

“Research into bullying didn't start until the 1970s, when psychologist Dan Olweus began to study the phenomenon in Norwegian schoolchildren. In fact, much of the study was triggered by the suicides of several young victims of bullying, said René Veenstra, a sociologist at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.”

photo source

Doses of reality: what’s changed in your health care under the new law?

MSNBC.com readers reveal the real-world impact of changes coming to the health care system. Who benefits? Who pays? And when does it all hit home? Interested in having your situation profiled? Submit your story below.

Higher taxes, but firm may get price break

“Reader#1

Name: Gary Kean, 57, Sherman Oaks, Calif.
Occupation: Partner, consumer electronics sales company
Household income: $150,000 to $250,000
Current insurance: PPO through an employer health plan.”

States That Might Have Been

Are you from Nashville? Had history gone in an ever-so-slightly different direction, you'd call your home state Transylvania. The book “Lost States: True Stories of Texlahoma, Transylvania, and Other States That Never Made It” tells the harrowing true story — but here are other almost-states.

                                            TRANSYLVANIA

                                                TEXLAHOMA

                                                    DESERET

This post first appeared here.

Antibacterial in soap comes under U.S. scrutiny

Animal studies linked chemical to altered hormones, antibiotic resistance

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Thursday it was reviewing the safety of triclosan, a widely used antibacterial agent found in soap, toothpaste and a range of other consumer products.”

Related stories:

Anti-bacterial soap under FDA scrutiny

Spring allergies in full bloom                  Image source