Massachusetts firefighters rescue kitten stuck in pipe

By KELLY ONANIAN

WAREHAM — Firefighters are known to rescue cats in trees but on Friday, Onset firefighters saved a kitten that was stuck in a PVC pipe for days.

The kitten, named Piper by volunteers at A Helping Paw Animal Shelter, was discovered by Onset resident Myrna Amado as she walked between her properties on Aunt Hannah's Lane.

For several days, she had heard a strange noise coming from one of her garages.

On Friday, she discovered the kitten, its face swollen, stuck in the pipe on the side of the garage.

Click here to see what happened.

Image and story via South Coast Today

Cell Phone controversy heats up: more reader input

Since writing about the dangers of cell phone use for youngsters last Sunday I have received 58 emails on the subject. Here are a few more examples:

The cell phone industry replies:

Dear Dave Stancliff,
Your Sunday story (June 7th) on the “dangers of cell phones” did not adequately address what professional scientists, researchers and U.S. Courts have found on the health impact of cell phone usage.
Since I am not a doctor or scientist, I choose to rely on organizations whose sole mission is to keep us safe.  Leading global heath organizations such as the American Cancer Society, National Cancer Institute, World Health Organization and the United States Food and Drug Administration have conducted and reviewed scientific research and evidence and have come to a consensus that there is no reason for concern about using your wireless devices. 
CTIA and the wireless industry take the health of our customers very seriously. That is why we work directly with the Federal Communications Commission to comply with the strict safety guidelines that are required for all wireless devices in the US.
Regards,
John Walls
Vice President of Public Affairs
CTIA-The Wireless Association®
(202) 736-3656 (day)
(202) 360-5430 (cell/evening)
JWalls@ctia.org

From the University of Maryland School of Nursing...

Hi Dave,

I just read your article:  http://www.times-standard.com/othervoices/ci_12539875

Do you have citations for the studies you refer to in this article?  I share your concerns and I’d like to have the studies to back these concerns up.’

Thanks

Louise

Louise Mitchell, Sustainable Foods Coordinator
Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (MD H2E) 
University of Maryland School of Nursing
655 West Lombard Street, Room 642
Baltimore, MD  21201
410-706-1924  phone
410-706-0253  fax
lmitc001@son.umaryland.edu
www.healthyfoodinhealthcare.org
www.mdh2e.org

From England...

Dear Dave,
I had to reply to your article, because I have known since 2002 that the damage to health is factual. I attach your article plus my comments and the history of activation of the Orange mast in our village in Sept 2001.
No-one has cancer yet *(apart from two pets 20 to 40 meters from the mast who died within a couple of years after suffering symptoms and cancer - their symptoms started as soon as the mast was activated) although one man (Alan Brooks) had a lump removed from his neck about 4 weeks ago.
Best regards,
Yours sincerely,
Gill Lyden

172 Common Road

Kensworth Dunstable Beds.

More Reader Input on this week's cell phone column

UPDATE:

From

Henry Padolsey - UK

Dave,

I agree totally with the comments regarding Cell Phones, but as you probably aware that pulsed microwave emissions also come from your DECT cordless phone (at a similar frequency to cell phones). However, what you may be unaware of is that cordless phone base stations continue to emit this radiation 24/7/365 even if you are not making or receiving a call! This is a design flaw in the majority of cordless DECT phones. Generally people use their cordless phones for longer periods.

Also, it might be worth you taking a look at http://tinyurl.com/5ru6e6  similar research to Dr. Neil Cherry?

The problem has been partly solved in Europe with the availability of Low Radiation cordless DECT phones that switch off microwave emissions between calls and adjust their power output levels dependant of distance from base station.

Best regards

Henry Padolsey
Rowtex Limited, UK

image via photobucket

UPDATE:

From: Mastsanity

Dave,

All the research on brain tumors is now listed here
www.wiredchild.org
also see
www.mastsanity.org with more brain surgeons speaking out from Australia on
the front page (scroll down a little way)
and a fun rap song!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WJCKgknZoE
Regards
Sarah

UPDATE:

From: Nancy Evans:

Thanks for the op-ed in the Eureka Times-Standard, Dave.

You are right on point to sound the alarm on this issue--and fortunate that the paper published your piece. Wish the SF Chronicle would allow a similar alert to readers here.  You'll find lots more on this issue at www.healthandenvironment.org the website for the Collaborative for Health and the Environment (CHE).  There's a very comprehensive brochure/fact sheet which I helped prepare for the President's Cancer Panel on Radiation. 

I co-facilitate the CHE working group on EMF with Cindy Sage, principal of Sage Associates in Santa Barbara.  The science on EMF/RF exposure and health effects is extensive and compelling--and the news isn't good. When marketing gets ahead of science, people suffer.

Thanks again for your efforts,

Nancy
Nancy Evans
Health Science Consultant
415-285-7267

It's been wonderful getting all of your emails (37 from all around the world thus far) and I'm going to keep sharing some of the best ones with you. This one comes from a reader in Canada.

"Their not only selling their souls, but the souls of another generation"

  By S.A.Joyce

Hello Mr. Stancliff.

And thank you for being courageous enough to speak out about the growing evidence connecting exposure to EMF and microwave radiation to brain tumors, leukemia and various forms of cancer.

As you probably know, the Bioinitiatives group last year did a meta-analysis of all the available scientific studies to date and found a clear correlation of harm, and there are new studies being published almost every day somewhere in the world. 

The telecommunications industry has done a masterful job of obscuring the issue, the same as the tobacco industry did for 50 years after they had the evidence, the same as the energy industry did about global warming 20 or 30 years after they had the evidence. No one in those industries is willing to kill the goose that lays the golden egg, no matter how many people suffer and die.

So far every study done on microwave radiation exposure from cell phones that has been funded by the industry has—surprise!—shown either a negative or inconclusive result. That we still allow such conflict of interest in science to be accepted by our governments is a travesty, and one of the corporation's greatest disinformation weapons.

You have only to read Dr. George Carlo's book 'Cell Phones: Invisible Hazards in the Wireless Age' and learn of his experience working as a scientific researcher in the industry to realize how the entire game is corrupt and was rigged from the start. The telecom industry bribed government into allowing this product on the market with no pre-market safety testing—quite a political/economic feat in itself!

They then helped write the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which specifically—and tellingly—states that no community may object to the placement of cell phone broadcast towers based on health concerns. In other words, like Big Tobacco, they knew from the beginning.

In Canada we have followed the same pathetic regulatory regime as in the U.S., giving the telecom industry carte blanche to put up broadcast towers in any neighborhood they choose with no consultation and no recourse. In one neighborhood in BC's capital city Victoria (actually a suburb, Colwood) after an FM/cell phone broadcast tower was put up literally right in the midst of a block of houses, pets started dying, insomnia became pandemic and everyone on the block started coming down with various cancers and other illnesses. They have formed a citizens' group and are fighting to have the tower removed or at least the power levels turned down but are getting nowhere.

The simple fact is that government and industry are de facto business partners. This is how industry gets government to look the other way on products that are known to be hazardous before they are ever released. In the case of the telecom industry, the government which regulates and licenses the airwaves gets a billion dollars every time it chops up another slice of the microwave bandwidth to auction off. And the industry itself then makes billions more selling phone plans to its customers.

The fact that telecom corporations are willing to market these dangerous toys to children, knowing they are five times more susceptible to brain tumors and leukemia than adults, confirms that they are completely evil. They are selling not only their souls but the souls of the next generation for money.

Hate to sound like a Jeremiah, but there it is.

Take care.

Sean Arthur (Art) Joyce

image via Revolution 21

Reader suggests conspiracy in cell phone industry

Backround:

Sunday's column:

Are young people facing a brain cancer epidemic caused by cell phones?

From an alert reader today, we have the following email.

Please note I didn't use the reader's name or address (as they requested), due to the sensitivity of the information. I've heard many things about cell phones, and I know for sure they are a powerful lobby with enough power to submerge scientific facts. Some links to more information on this subject are: www.wirechild.org and www.mastsanity.org .

"There is, in fact a direct association between brain cancer and cell phone usage since way back when. The cell phone industry almost lost their product under a lawsuit brought on to Ameritech Cellular by a consumer. 

This lawsuit was quickly resolved, and pushed under the rug by the courts, Ameritech Cellular, the FCC, Cellular Phone company scientists, and the Federal Government.

The Federal Government took the Cell Phone company scientist's findings, instead of asking the FCC and the Cell Phone companies to run an independent test.

I have been in the cell phone business for quite some time, and have seen severe brain cancers of my own colleagues, at quite a young age, caused by radio frequency waves, and taking their lives. 

The government and our Skunk Testing Sites constantly are trying to find out ways to improve and use these radio frequencies, they call harmless, and get them implemented into our arsenal of fighting equipment and to the battlefield for use. 

It shall be extremely hard for you to dig this information back up, and you possibly may want to use the "Disclosure of Information Act" to do so BUT, I caution you, you will be stepping on some very big toes.

The Telecommunications Industries, Cell Phone Companies at the top of the list, spend billions of dollars a year for lobbyist at the White House, so that anything that comes up negative about the cellular industry, will be spun off for the president, our senators, legislators, and of course the public.

I had worked in the Cellular communication field for about 15 years prior to being fired for telling the CEO of Verizon Wireless, that AT&T has the most cellular coverage, which was very true at the time.  His name, Lowell McFadden, the most scrupulous person in the Cellular Communication Corporation.
If you still want to push this subject, and it is not just a news article to you, I wish you lots of luck.
I will ask that my name and e-mail address remain anonymous, for reasons you now know." 

Image via MotherJones.com

Are young people facing a brain cancer epidemic caused by cell phones?

 AS IT STANDS 

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 06/07/2009 01:27:20 AM PDT

It always troubles me when people get sick, or even die, from a product that hasn't been thoroughly tested.

You see that kind of thing often in the pharmaceutical market. Big companies are more concerned about releasing new products to make a profit than they are about the long-term effects these products may have.

Despite the Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) efforts, the practice of releasing products to the public before their long-term effects have been thoroughly studied, continues to this day.

Take cell phones for example. The FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) is supposed to make sure that radiation-emitting products, such as microwave ovens, TV sets, cell phones, and laser products meet radiation standards.

According to the CDRH Web site (www.fda.gov) “the center monitors devices throughout the product life cycle, including a nationwide post-market surveillance system.” If that's the case, why are the FDA's only mobile phone studies relatively short term, with absolutely no data available on the consequences of childhood exposure to cell phones? Click here to read the rest.

photo via www.cafemom.com/.

One in seven scientists make up fake results, say peers

From Times Online...

By Hannah Devlin

 Faking scientific data and failing to report commercial conflicts of interest are far more prevalent than previously thought, a study suggests.

One in seven scientists says that they are aware of colleagues having seriously breached acceptable conduct by inventing results. And around 46 per cent say that they have observed fellow scientists engage in “questionable practices”, such as presenting data selectively or changing the conclusions of a study in response to pressure from a funding source.

However, when scientists were asked about their own behavior only 2 per cent admitted to having faked results.

Click here to read the rest.

Image via www.biojobblog.com

The safest play to live in the world is New Zealand

 From Ynet  Israel News

Far, far away: New Zealand is the safest place in the world, while Israel is almost at the bottom of the new Global Peace Index (GPI), an annual ranking of 144 of the world's nations based of how peaceful they are, which was published Wednesday by British newspaper The Guardian.

The top of the list saw an overthrow, after Iceland lost its title as the safest place in the world and fell to the fourth place, following the financial collapse in the northern European island.

 Israel ranked fourth from the end, falling one place compared to last year. Even Sudan and Congo are considered safer. The Jewish state is followed by only Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq, which is still defined as the most dangerous country in the world despite the improvement in its security following the US activity there.

To find out where the United States ranks and more world statistics click here.

image via Google Images

How long do you plan on living? Find out you life expectancy here...

From the Northwestern Mutual Financial Network...

How long can you expect to live? We developed the Longevity Game to give you a peek into your future by identifying the factors that can lead to a healthier, more productive life.

At Northwestern Mutual, we know a thing or two about longevity because we’ve been tracking statistics that impact life since 1857. And that wealth of knowledge helped us shape the Longevity Game.

Through the game, we hope to give you insight into your daily lifestyle—plus tips on how you can make some positive changes.

 Click here to find out your expected life span.

Image via Google Images

Trolls Exposed: what kind of troll is disrupting your online community?

I've encountered Satanists - The Wren's Nest who ran my July 20, 2008 column IRS Recognized The Church of Satan as a Religion

and now I've strolled into a troll's cave....

UPDATE JUNE 3rd

Check out The Joe Blow Report blog.

What's really interesting about "Joe Blow" is that he's threatening me -

to paraphrase:

"If he (Dave) honestly thought I, or any of us, were actually paranoid and hostile as he claimed, I doubt he would have the termerity, let alone the courage to say it directly to me."

What does a coward afraid to use his own name think he's doing by questioning my courage?

I made the mistake of making a comment on his (their) little hate-filled blog because he (they) devoted a post to attacking my column on trolls. Please read his (their) blog and see what you think. I probably should have realized he (they) are a paranoid lot of losers and just let them be. The thinly veiled threats warning me that I didn't have a clue who I was talking to is just further proof of the hate that is spewing out from The Joe Blow Report blog.

-Dave

Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 05/31/2009 01:27:12 AM PDT

Don't feed the trolls.

You know the ones I'm talking about. They prey on news forums, chat rooms, and other online communities. Their purpose: to disrupt any conversation or thread, and to get an emotional response from some unwary person. Ignoring them and not responding to their posts is your best option.

What kind of people are trolls? They're cowards. Lonely cowards. Their posts seldom show any real imagination and often resort to childish name-calling.

Click here to read the rest.

image via Google Images

Savant Art: A window into their formidable brains

Click here to see a collection of art created by various prodigious savant artists from around the world. Each piece of art has been chosen because it shines some light on the way the mind of a savant works.

The above image

Pi Landscape, by Daniel Tammet

Daniel Tammet shot to fame when he set a European record for the number of digits of pi he recited from memory (22,514). He has also learned Icelandic in a week and made up his own language. How does he do it?
He attributes his ability to remember numbers to his mixture of autism and synaesthesia. The autism focused his mind on numbers at a very young age, while the synaesthesia allows him to visualize each number as having a particular shape, color and texture.
This leads him to a number landscape that is easier to remember than a simple string of numbers.
See Inside the mind of an autistic savant
(Image: Daniel Tammet)