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60 items tagged "headline"

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• 

  Headline Of The Week Weak

  Posted: November 21st, 2008, 8:15am CST by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Our Ancestors Had Floppy, Flexible Feet"

  Superhumans! CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

  http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20081119/sc_livescience/ourancestorshadfloppyflexiblefeet;_ylt=Ak5COaOnZnUlr8ZGej6DKCes0NUE" target="_blank">Our Ancestors Had Floppy, Flexible Feet

  Our ape-like ancestors might have walked like today's gibbons, whose super bendy feet give them a floppy strut.

  The modern human foot first evolved in our ancestors around 1.8 million years ago, said Evie Vereecke of the University of Liverpool in England. But studies suggest that even before our advanced feet emerged, our mostly tree-climbing ancestors were walking upright for short stints.

  Vereecke wanted to find out how they would have done that without specialized walking feet.
  She turned to gibbons. This family of primates shares a common ancestor with the great apes (chimps, gorillas, orangutans and humans). Gibbons walk upright up to 12 percent of the time, Vereecke said.

  Like other modern apes, gibbons sport a flexible joint midway along the foot. While we still have the joint, we don't have the flexibility that gibbons and other apes have. That flexibility is essential for climbing trees and grasping onto branches, but perhaps not for ambling around on flat surfaces.

  Vereecke videotaped gibbons walking about at Belgium's Wild Animal Park of Planckendael. She then digitized the animals' foot movements and developed a computer model, which showed the animals moved sort of like ballerinas, landing on their toes before the heel touched the ground. This allowed the animals to stretch the toes' tendons and store energy in them.

  Once their toes touched down, gibbons then lifted the heel first, effectively bending the foot to form an upward-turned arch. That bending maneuver stretched the toes' tendons even more, storing more elastic energy for use as the foot eventually pushed off the ground.

  Unlike gibbons' flat feet, we have arched feet with an elastic band along the sole. When we put weight on our feet, the arch stretches that band, storing elastic energy. At push off, the elastic band recoils, releasing energy for propulsion at the end of the stride.

  In essence, our feet go from an arched or upside-down "U" shape to flat when walking, while gibbons' feet change from flat to "U" shaped.

  "This gibbon research shows us that even if you have these flat, flexible feet, you can walk upright quite efficiently," Vereecke told LiveScience, "and that it doesn't restrict or limit your abilities even though you don't have this specialized foot structure as modern humans."

  She said gibbons aren't a perfect model for how human ancestors, such as the early human ancestor dubbed Lucy, walked about. At 3.2 million years old, Lucy is one of the most famous early human ancestors and the first Australopithecus afarensis skeleton ever found.

  But gibbons could still shed light on how early humans walked. "We have some fossil remains of hominin feet, and those indicate that our early ancestors had floppy, flexible feet," Vereecke said.

  "Although they didn't look like a gibbon, they likely had flexible feet and walked upright."
  The research is detailed in the Nov. 14 issue of the Journal of Experimental Biology.

• 

  Headline Of The Week Weak

  Posted: November 14th, 2008, 8:00am CST by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Study: HPV vaccine prevents genital warts in males"

  John Mayer can breathe a sigh of relief! CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

  Study: HPV vaccine prevents genital warts in males

  For the first time, an expensive vaccine aimed at preventing cervical cancer in women has proven successful at preventing a disease in men, according to a study released Thursday by the vaccine's maker.

  The disease is genital warts — sexually transmitted, embarrassing and uncomfortable — but not life-threatening.

  Still, the results are expected to bolster a likely bid by the vaccine's manufacturer, Merck & Co. Inc., to begin marketing the vaccine to boys, experts said. Merck plans to ask the government for that approval later this year.

  "This opens the door to a wonderful opportunity to prevent illness," said Anna Giuliano, a researcher at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., who worked on the Merck study. The research results were being presented Thursday at a medical conference in Europe.

  The focus was Merck's vaccine, Gardasil, which is given in three doses over six months and is priced at about $375.

  The vaccine targets the two types of HPV, or human papillomavirus, believed to be responsible for about 70 percent of cervical cancer cases, and two other types that cause most genital warts. HPV is spread through sex.

  In 2006, the U.S. government licensed the vaccine for use in girls and women ages 9 to 26. Males can spread the virus, but the vaccine was not licensed for them because there was no evidence it prevented disease in men.

  Though about 40 other countries have approved the vaccine for males, there still is no medical proof Gardasil prevents penile cancer or other HPV-associated cancers in men. There also is no evidence it prevents men from spreading HPV to women.

  The new study involved about 4,000 males ages 16 to 26 in nearly 20 countries. Results showed the vaccine was 90 percent effective in preventing genital warts, with only 15 cases of persistent infection in the vaccinated group, compared to 101 cases in a group that was given a fake vaccine.

  No serious side effects were reported. The research is continuing, but these results reflect how the men were doing about 30 months after the injections, on average.

  The results are "very exciting," but it's not clear they will be enough to persuade many American families to get their teenage boys vaccinated, said Dr. Maura Gillison, an HPV researcher at Johns

  Hopkins University who was not involved in the Merck study.
  She noted that only 1 in 4 girls have gotten the vaccine so far, despite compelling medical studies that indicate the shots prevent female cancers.

  "When parents are sitting in a room discussing with a pediatrician whether to vaccinate their child against anything, they'd like to know what the potential benefit is. A parent might say, 'I'm not inclined to vaccinate my child to prevent a benign genital wart,'" she said.

  Government officials have been awaiting this interim analysis from Merck. They are eager to see additional information that may come later on the vaccine's effect on precancerous lesions, said Dr. Lauri Markowitz, an HPV expert at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

  "It's obviously encouraging data, but the policy makers will be looking at a variety of different issues," including how cost-effective the shot would be if used in males, said Markowitz, a medical epidemiologist.

  HPV causes at least 20,000 cases of cancer in the U.S. each year. Cervical cancer is the most common type, but about a quarter of cancers occur in men, including penile, anal and even head and neck cancers.

• 

  Headline Of The Week Weak

  Posted: November 12th, 2008, 8:00am CST by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Did a Bone Marrow Transplant Cure a Cancer Patient of AIDS?"

  Really???? CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

  Did a Bone Marrow Transplant Cure a Cancer Patient of AIDS?

  A 42-year-old man who had both leukemia and AIDS received a bone marrow transplant — a common, late-stage treatment for that type of cancer. His doctor selected a bone marrow donor who had a rare genetic mutation that renders people virtually immune to HIV. The transplant appeared to cure the patient of AIDS.

  We’re as wary as the next guy of inferring too much from a single case study. Maybe it was a fluke; maybe there were unknown factors at work. But this one is pretty intriguing.

  The case was presented at a conference earlier this year (here’s the abstract), and written up in this morning’s WSJ.

  As is common for bone marrow transplant recipients, the patient first had radiation and chemotherapy, which tends to kill off many of the immune cells that harbor HIV. After the transplant, the patient’s immune system was repopulated by cells created by the donor marrow.

  The donor had a mutation, present in about 1% of Europeans, that creates immune system cells that lack a receptor molecule called CCR5. That receptor plays an important role in HIV’s ability to enter the cell. (Pfizer’s HIV drug Selzentry works by blocking CCR5.)

  So the patient’s immune system was repopulated with immune cells that carried the mutation. And, nearly two years after undergoing the transplant, he shows no signs of having any HIV left in his body — despite the fact that he hasn’t taken any AIDS drugs since before the transplant.

  Perhaps the most important caveat is just how risky bone marrow transplantation is: It’s given to cancer patients after other treatments fail, and it kills up to 30% of patients.

  But researchers hope to apply the apparent lessons of this case to strategies using gene therapy (which carries its own risks) to try to induce the protective mutation in patients with HIV.

  David Baltimore, who won a Nobel Prize for research on tumor viruses, has started a company to use gene therapy to target HIV. He calls this case “a very good sign” and a virtual “proof of principle” for gene-therapy approaches.

• 

  Headline Of The Week Weak

  Posted: November 9th, 2008, 12:45pm CST by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Dried Mushrooms Slow Climate Warming In Northern Forests"

  Inneresting!!! CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

  [Image via WENN.]

  Dried Mushrooms Slow Climate Warming In Northern Forests

  The fight against climate warming has an unexpected ally in mushrooms growing in dry spruce forests covering Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia and other northern regions, a new UC Irvine study finds.

  When soil in these forests is warmed, fungi that feed on dead plant material dry out and produce significantly less climate-warming carbon dioxide than fungi in cooler, wetter soil. This came as a surprise to scientists, who expected warmer soil to emit larger amounts of carbon dioxide because extreme cold is believed to slow down the process by which fungi convert soil carbon into carbon dioxide.

  Knowing how forests cycle carbon is crucial to accurately predicting global climate warming, which in turn guides public policy to curb greenhouse gas emissions. This is especially important in northern forests, which contain an estimated 30 percent of the Earth's soil carbon, equivalent to the amount of atmospheric carbon.

  "We don't get a vicious cycle of warming in dry, boreal forests. Instead, we get the reverse, where warming actually prevents further warming from occurring," said Steven Allison, ecology and evolutionary biology assistant professor and lead author of the study. "The Earth's natural processes could give us some time to implement responsible policies to counteract warming globally."

  Soils in the far north contain a lot of carbon from dead grasses, trees and shrubs. Like humans, fungi and bacteria in soil use plant carbon as a food source and convert it into carbon dioxide.

  Allison and his colleague, Kathleen Treseder, sought to find out what happens to carbon dioxide levels when boreal forest soil not containing permafrost is warmed. About one-third of the world's boreal forests do not contain permafrost, which is mostly located in Alaska, Canada, Western Siberia and Northern Europe.

  Global warming is expected to hit northern latitudes hardest, raising temperatures between 5 and 7 degrees Celsius by the year 2100.

  The scientists conducted their experiment in a spruce forest near Fairbanks, Alaska. They built small greenhouses and identified similar unheated plots nearby to serve as controls. Both plots received equal amounts of water.

  In mid-May when growing season began, air and soil temperatures were the same in greenhouses and control plots. When greenhouses were closed, air temperature rose about 5 degrees Celsius, and soil temperature rose about 1 degree.

  The scientists took measurements in the greenhouses and unheated plots and found that by growing season's end in mid-August, soil in warmed greenhouses produced about half as much carbon dioxide as soil in cooler control plots.

  A soil analysis found that about half as much active fungi were present in experimental greenhouse samples compared with samples from the controls. When fungi dry out, they either die or become inactive and stop producing carbon dioxide, the scientists said.

  "It's fortuitous for humans that the fungi are negatively affected by this warming," said Treseder, ecology and evolutionary biology associate professor. "It's not so great for the fungi, but might help offset a little bit of the carbon dioxide we are putting directly into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels."

  This study appears online Nov. 3 in the journal Global Change Biology.

  This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, and a NOAA Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Fellowship.

• 

  Headline Of The Week Weak

  Posted: November 1st, 2008, 1:17pm CDT by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Poll finds 23% of Texans think Obama is Muslim"

  Uh oh! CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

  [Image via WENN.]

  Poll finds 23% of Texans think Obama is Muslim

  A University of Texas poll to be released this week shows Republican presidential candidate John McCain and GOP Sen. John Cornyn leading by comfortable margins in Texas, as expected. But the statewide survey of 550 registered voters has one very surprising finding: 23 percent of Texans are convinced that Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is a Muslim.

  Obama is a Christian who was embroiled in a controversy earlier this year about his two-decade membership in Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ. Yet just 45 percent of those polled identified the Illinois senator as a Protestant.

  The Obama-is-a-Muslim confusion is caused by fallacious Internet rumors and radio talk-show gossip. McCain went so far at one of his town hall meetings to grab a microphone from a woman who claimed that Obama was an Arab.

  The Texas numbers are unusual because most national polls show that just 5 to 10 percent of Americans still believe Obama is a Muslim — less than half the number of Texans who buy into the debunked theories.

  The UT poll shows McCain running ahead of Obama statewide, with a 51 percent to 40 percent margin. Cornyn, a first-term Republican from San Antonio, leads Rick Noriega, a state representative from Houston, 45 percent to 36 percent. Another 14 percent of voters remain undecided in the contest.

  The poll found that 89 percent of Lone Star State voters say the country's economic situation is worse than a year ago. And President Bush and Congress both get record low marks.

  Just 34 percent of Texans approve of Bush's job performance — a big change for a former governor who won re-election 10 years ago with 70 percent of the vote. And Congress is even more unpopular:

  Just 8 percent of Texas voters approve of the work being done on Capitol Hill.

  The telephone poll was conducted by the Texas Politics Project and Department of Government at The University of Texas at Austin. The poll was conducted from Oct. 15 to 22, and had a margin of error of 4.2 percentage points.

• 

  Headline Of The Week Weak

  Posted: October 24th, 2008, 9:17am CDT by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Stinky farts may help regulate blood pressure
  Gas relaxes the blood vessels to prevent hypertension in mice, study finds"

  That's hawt! CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

  [Image via WENN.]

  Stinky farts may help regulate blood pressure
  Gas relaxes the blood vessels to prevent hypertension in mice, study finds

  A smelly rotten-egg gas in farts controls blood pressure in mice, a new study finds.

  The unpleasant aroma of the gas, called hydrogen sulfide (H2S), can be a little too familiar, as it is expelled by bacteria living in the human colon and eventually makes its way, well, out.

  The new research found that cells lining mice’s blood vessels naturally make the gas and this action can help keep the rodents’ blood pressure low by relaxing the blood vessels to prevent hypertension (high blood pressure). This gas is “no doubt” produced in cells lining human blood vessels too, the researchers said.

  “Now that we know hydrogen sulfide’s role in regulating blood pressure, it may be possible to design drug therapies that enhance its formation as an alternative to the current methods of treatment for hypertension,” said Johns Hopkins neuroscientist Solomon H. Snyder, M.D., a co-author of the study detailed in the Oct. 24th issue of the journal Science.

  Snyder and his colleagues compared normal mice to mice that were missing a gene for an enzyme known as CSE, long suspected as being responsible for making hydrogen sulfide. As they measured hydrogen sulfide levels taken from tissues of the CSE-deficient mice, the scientists found that the gas was depleted in the cardiovascular systems of the altered mice. By contrast, normal mice had higher levels of the gas, thereby showing that hydrogen sulfide is naturally made by mammalian tissues using CSE.

  Next, the mice were subjected to higher blood pressures comparable to serious hypertension in humans. Scientists had them respond to a chemical called methacholine that relaxes normal blood vessels. The blood vessels of the CSE-lacking mice hardly relaxed, indicating that hydrogen sulfide is a huge contender for regulating blood pressure.

  Hydrogen sulfide is the most recently discovered member of a family of gasotransmitters, small molecules inside our bodies with important physiological functions.

  This study is the first to reveal that the CSE enzyme that triggers hydrogen sulfide is activated itself in the same way as other enzymes when they trigger their respective gasotransmitter, such as a nitric oxide-forming enzyme that also regulates blood pressure, Dr. Snyder said.

  Because gasotransmitters are common in mammals all over the evolutionary tree, these findings on the importance of hydrogen sulfide are thought to have broad applications to human diseases, such as diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases.

  The research was supported by grants from the U.S. Public Health Service and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research as well as a Research Scientist Award.

• 

  Headline Of The Week Weak

  Posted: October 15th, 2008, 9:30am CDT by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Sex addiction on the rise, from pop culture to Wall Street"

  Pervs! Read the article accompanying this headline…after the jump.

  [Photo via Getty Images.]

  Sex addiction on the rise, from pop culture to Wall Street

  David Duchovny just checked out of sex-addiction rehab, and his lawyer says treatment was a success. But while the "Californication" star is doing better, the problem may be getting worse here in New York.

  Local sex therapists are seeing an increase in patients from the finance field, and a link between the dipping Dow and bad behavior.

  HE CHEATED … ON HER?! SEE WHICH STARS HAVE STRAYED FROM THEIR SIZZLING PARTNERS

  Psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert reports a jump in sex-addicted men at his Manhattan practice in the past six months.

  "Since early spring, maybe late winter, there's just been an increase, and I believe it might have something to do with the economy," he says. "A lot of the Wall Streeters use sex as a way to cope with stress. Bankers do tend to rely on pretty unhealthy ways of coping with stress - drugs, sex.

  "A lot of them will use adult services," Alpert adds. "Some of them come right out and say, 'I'm stressed. This is how I deal with it. It's not the worst thing in the world. I'm not using drugs.' But when it starts to increase, then it's a problem."

  RELATED: PORN, SEX ADDICTION GO MAINSTREAM IN POP CULTURE

  According to Alpert, many of these men consider going to an Asian massage parlor during their lunch break normal. "The service received may include being masturbated or even oral sex," he says. "This has increased, as reported by several of my clients. Instead of going once a week, maybe they're going three or four times a week. And these are married men.

  "I'm also seeing clients who utilize escort services, visit S&M parlors and strip bars almost nightly," he adds. "With the sex addict, where there's a risk and danger, there's often a rush. This temporarily satisfies their craving."

  According to Jodi Conway, a sex addiction specialist based in New Jersey, stress from the struggling financial markets is the kind of trigger that leads addicts to resort to "maladaptive coping mechanisms."

  "I've had a few guys that have come in from Wall Street, and I have brokers that have offices out here in New Jersey," she says. "A couple have been caught through work, or on their at-work laptops, exchanging e-mails or looking at pornography, which is something that's part of that sexual addictive behavior.

  "I've had two people [in finance] that have been referred to me in the last two or three weeks that have gotten in trouble at work because of that," she adds.

  Most sex addicts have experienced some type of trauma in childhood, such as sexual or emotional abuse, according to Conway. "This becomes a way of dealing with their families, by numbing their feelings, as all addictions do," she explains.

  A new movie and book on the topic, combined with Duchovny's admission to being a sex addict in August, has brought the issue into the spotlight.

  Sam Rockwell stars as a sex-obsessed con artist who even seduces his mom's doctor in the recently released movie "Choke." And that character has nothing on Susan Cheever, the 65-year-old upper East Side author who counts her mom's oncologist among her conquests. In her memoir "Desire: Where Sex Meets Addiction," released Tuesday, she explores "the question of where does passion end and addiction begin."

  In "Desire," Cheever writes that unlike with alcohol and drug problems, obsession with sex is often applauded and embraced.

  "It's hidden because we think it's great," she says. "The more proposals a woman has, the more lovers she has, the better, and it's even more true with men. We're in the very slow process of waking up to the facts of addiction, that it has nothing to do with will power and that it requires treatment. We realized it first with alcoholism, then with eating disorders, and we may soon realize it with sex."

  HOW TO TELL IF YOU OR YOUR LOVED ONE IS A SEX ADDICT
  The frequency and intensity of the behavior increases.

  There's a significant impact on the person's life. "It has affected relationships, career, health, finances, and that's true with a lot of addictions," Alpert explains.

  Lying. "There are a lot of lies that go along with sexual addiction," Conway says. "They just compound with more lies, and people can forget what they're even lying about."

  Continuing the behavior when the addicts have a lot to lose. "Part of them is obviously aware of the great risk, but they continue despite that," says Alpert.

  Compulsive behaviors. "Even someone who is looking at pornography for four or five hours a day, when they're doing this every day, they're missing out on other things," Conway says.

  Failed attempts to stop the behavior. "A person saying, I'm not going to do this anymore, this is the last time [and not following through]," says Conway.

  Problems at work. "I've had people come in as a result of being caught at work looking at pornography online, e-mails from women or prostitutes, escort services that they're viewing," Conway says.

• 

  Headline Of The Week Weak

  Posted: October 11th, 2008, 8:30am CDT by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Burglary victims wake to spice rub, sausage attack"

  WTF???? Read the article accompanying this headline….after the jump!

  [Image via WENN.]

  Burglary victims wake to spice rub, sausage attack

  A burglar who broke into a home just east of Fresno rubbed spices over the body of one man and then used an 8-inch sausage to whack the other man on the face and head as the two slept in their rooms, Fresno County sheriff's deputies said Saturday. The burglar then ran out of the house.

  Lt. Ian Burrimond, describing the crime as one of the strangest he's ever heard of, said a suspect was found hiding in a nearby field a few minutes later and taken into custody on suspicion of residential robbery.

  Deputies, he said, had no problem linking the suspect to the crime.

  "It seems the guy ran out of the house wearing only a T-shirt, boxer shorts and socks, leaving behind his wallet with his ID," Burrimond said.

  Arrested was Antonio Vasquez, 22, of Fresno.

  Burrimond said deputies headed to the victims' home in the 300 block of South Thompson Avenue near Kings Canyon Road outside of Sanger shortly after 8 a.m. Saturday regarding a burglary in progress.

  The victims, both farmworkers, told deputies they were awakened by a stranger applying spices to one of them and striking the other with a sausage.

  Both the spices and the sausage, Burrimond said, were obtained from the victims' kitchen.

  After the man fled, the victims discovered the home had been ransacked and that some money was taken, Burrimond said.

  Burrimond said the money was recovered, but that the piece of sausage used in the attack was discarded by the suspect and eaten by a dog.

  "That's right, the dog ate the weapon," Burrimond said.

  "I tell you, this was one weird case."

• 

  Headline Of The Week Weak

  Posted: October 5th, 2008, 3:45pm CDT by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Ohio woman, 90, attempts suicide after foreclosure"

  So sad! The times are tough indeed! CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

  [Image via WENN.]

  Ohio woman, 90, attempts suicide after foreclosure

  A 90-year-old Ohio woman, facing eviction from the home she has lived in for 38 years, shot and wounded herself this week, becoming a grim symbol of the U.S. home mortgage crisis.

  Addie Polk was found lying on the floor of her home with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to her shoulder when police came to the home on Wednesday to serve an eviction notice, Akron police spokesman Lt. Rick Edwards said on Friday.

  Polk survived the shooting and is being treated in a hospital.

  It was the latest attempt by sheriff's deputies to evict Polk from her modest single-family home because she could not keep up with her mortgage.

  "It appears they're evicting her over her mortgage. She's lived in the house, the neighbors said, something like 38 years and in the last couple of years fell prey to some predatory lending company or financial institution," Edwards said.

  Local news reports said deputies had tried to serve Polk's eviction notice more than 30 times before Wednesday's shooting.

  Home foreclosure rates are at record highs in the United States, in many cases because buyers with adjustable interest rates could not keep up with sharp increases in monthly payments. The foreclosure crisis has sparked a wider housing market downturn and is at the heart of the U.S. financial crisis.

• 

  Headline Of The Week Weak

  Posted: October 4th, 2008, 6:35pm CDT by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Peanut Butter Attack!
  High school student charged with assault on severely allergic classmate"

  Hardcore! CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

  [Image via WENN.]

  Peanut Butter Attack!

  H.S. student charged with assault on severely allergic classmate

  -A Washington man is facing an assault charge for allegedly smearing peanut butter on the forehead of a fellow student who is severely allergic to peanuts. Joshua Hickson, 19, slathered on the peanut butter after he learned of the victim's allergy while both were at lunch last month in Wenatchee High School. According to a Wenatchee Police Department report, a copy of which you'll find below, Hickson took a peanut butter and jelly sandwich from another student and twice "wiped some of the inside contents" on the forehead of the victim, who did not suffer an allergic reaction as a result of the September 8 incident. When interviewed by police, Hickson admitted smearing the peanut butter on his classmate, but "claimed that he didn't think anything would happen." As first reported by the Wenatchee World, Officer Steve Evitt noted in his report that the "incident turned out to be fairly innocuous, but could have been fatal." If convicted of the misdemeanor charge Hickson faces a maximum of one year in jail and a $5000 fine.

• 

  Headline Of The Week Weak

  Posted: October 3rd, 2008, 10:15am CDT by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "China fakes reports from space
  China's state news agency published a despatch from the country's three latest astronauts describing their first night in space before they had even left Earth."

  Shady! CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

  [Image via WENN.]

  China fakes reports from space

  China's state news agency published a despatch from the country's three latest astronauts describing their first night in space before they had even left Earth.

  The Xinhua agency, which has sometimes been accused of carrying state propaganda, took down the story and blamed it on a "technical error".

  The article described the Shenzhou VII space craft orbiting the Earth and outlined a conversation between the astronauts.

  "First-level measurment arrangement," said one taikonaut - the Chinese word for astronaut.

  The article later described the reaction to a successful outcome of the mission. "Ten minutes later, the ship disappears below the horizon. Warm clapping and excited cheering breaks the night sky, echoing across the silent Pacific Ocean."

  China's most ambitious manned space mission blasted off intent on providing the country's first ever spacewalk.

  The latest test of Project 921, as its race into space is known, is the climax of China's defining year as an emerging superpower, coming on top of its hosting of the Olympic Games.

  But its Asian rivals Japan and India are also stepping up their space programmes, to say nothing of America's own revived plans to return to the moon.

  Next month India will launch Chandrayaan-1, an unmanned space module designed to map the resources of the moon and undertake an intense search for water on its surface.

  It will also execute environmental studies and measure radioactivity on the lunar surface, officials said, looking for traces of radon, uranium and thorium.

  The Shenzhou VII, by contrast, China's third manned mission, will conduct few scientific experiments and is largely meant to build the technical know-how eventually to build a space station and even put a man on the moon.

• 

  Headline Of The Week Weak

  Posted: September 24th, 2008, 8:00am CDT by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Cops: Man Drove to Barack Obama's House With Gun
  Man held for approaching Sen. Obama's Kenwood home with gun, bulletproof vest"

  Scary stuff!!! CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

  [Image via WENN.]

  Man held for approaching Sen. Obama's Kenwood home with gun, bulletproof vest

  Charges are pending against a man who drove up to the security perimeter around Sen. Barack Obama’s home in Kenwood with a gun on the floor of his car this morning, police said.

  The man also had a bulletproof vest in the car, sources said.

  The man, in his 30s, was stopped by a Chicago Police officer assigned to the U.S. Secret Service security detail at about 5 a.m. today, Chicago Police said. He had a rambling conversation with the officer who stopped him.

  After being told to leave the area, the man drove away but he returned. The officer then searched his car and recovered a handgun, police said.

  Secret Service spokesman Malcolm Wiley said the man “did not breach any security perimeters” and was a block away from the senator's home. The man did not direct any threats toward Obama, nor did he “utter any threatening language,” Wiley said.

  Sources said the man inquired about getting a job, spoke about how he was a victim of crime and discussed how he was happy that an African-American was running for president. The man, a convicted felon, is African-American.

  There are “Do Not Enter” and “Authorized Personnel Only” signs posted around that security area, a Chicago Police spokesman said. The outer security perimeter is manned by the Secret Service and Chicago police, Wiley said.

• 

  Headline Of The Week Weak

  Posted: September 17th, 2008, 11:00am CDT by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Eating veggies shrinks the brain"

  Really???? CLICK HERE to read all about scientists' latest discovery.

  [Photo via Getty Images.]

  Eating veggies shrinks the brain

  Scientists have discovered that going veggie could be bad for your brain-with those on a meat-free diet six times more likely to suffer brain shrinkage.

  Vegans and vegetarians are the most likely to be deficient because the best sources of the vitamin are meat, particularly liver, milk and fish. Vitamin B12 deficiency can also cause anaemia and inflammation of the nervous system. Yeast extracts are one of the few vegetarian foods which provide good levels of the vitamin.

  The link was discovered by Oxford University scientists who used memory tests, physical checks and brain scans to examine 107 people between the ages of 61 and 87.

  When the volunteers were retested five years later the medics found those with the lowest levels of vitamin B12 were also the most likely to have brain shrinkage. It confirms earlier research showing a link between brain atrophy and low levels of B12.

  Brain scans of more than 1,800 people found that people who downed 14 drinks or more a week had 1.6% more brain shrinkage than teetotallers. Women in their seventies were the most at risk.

  Beer does less damage than wine according to a study in Alcohol and Alcoholism.

  Researchers found that the hippocampus-the part of the brain that stores memories - was 10% smaller in beer drinkers than those who stuck to wine.

  And being overweight or obese is linked to brain loss, Swedish researchers discovered. Scans of around 300 women found that those with brain shrink had an average body mass index of 27 And for every one point increase in their BMI the loss rose by 13 to 16%.

• 

  Headline Of The Week Weak

  Posted: September 14th, 2008, 3:39pm CDT by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Dad chases naked teen from daughter's room with pipe"

  Scandalicious! CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

  [Image via WENN.]

  Dad chases naked teen from daughter's room with pipe

  An angry Deltona father whacked his teenage daughter's boyfriend with a metal pipe after finding the boy naked in his daughter's room.

  Authorities say Raul Colon, 45, didn't even know his daughter had a boyfriend or that the youngster had been sneaking into the home for more than a year.

  When he heard noises coming from his daughter's bedroom Thursday morning and saw a stranger standing naked on the girl's bed, he swung a metal pipe. He then chased the teen out the front door and called police.

  The boy was taken to the hospital where doctors closed a head wound with staples.

  Colon was charged with aggravated battery on a child and bonded out on $10,000.

• 

  Headline Of The Week Weak

  Posted: September 13th, 2008, 9:10am CDT by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Police Illegally Taped Nursing Home Sex, Wisconsin Court Rules"

  Lemon party! CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

  [Image via WENN.]

  Police Illegally Taped Nursing Home Sex, Wisconsin Court Rules

  MADISON, Wis. — Police who videotaped a man having sex with his comatose wife in her nursing home room violated his constitutional rights, an appeals court ruled Thursday.

  David W. Johnson, 59, had an expectation to privacy when he visited his wife, a stroke victim, at Divine Savior Nursing Home in Portage, the District 4 Court of Appeals ruled. Therefore, police violated his constitutional rights against unreasonable searches when they installed a hidden video camera in the room, the court said.

  "We are satisfied that Johnson's expectation of privacy while visiting his wife in her nursing home room is one that society would recognize as reasonable," the unanimous three-judge panel wrote.

  The ruling means prosecutors cannot introduce the videotapes as evidence in their case against Johnson, who is charged with felony sexual assault for having intercourse with his wife without her consent at least three times in 2005.

  Johnson's attorney, Christopher Kelly, said his client would visit his 54-year-old wife every day, reading her the Bible and moving her arms and legs so her muscles wouldn't atrophy.

  The woman's sister is upset that prosecutors brought charges against him, Kelly said. "She believes her sister's husband was merely expressing his love for his wife and was trying everything he could to bring her back to consciousness," Kelly said.

  The couple married in 1988 and had no children, Kelly said.

  Kelly said he believed prosecutors would be forced to drop the charges without the evidence on the tapes and thought the appeals court made "a pretty obvious call."

  Johnson's wife was admitted to the nursing home after suffering a stroke. Court records say she was unable to speak or sit up, and nursing home staff members fed, cleaned and turned her. Prosecutors say she was comatose.

  Johnson visited her frequently and sometimes would close the door to her room so they could have privacy as allowed by the nursing home. But staff members tipped off police, fearing she was in danger because, they suspected, he was having sex with her.

  Police obtained a search warrant to videotape the room and installed the camera, which ran for three weeks. Johnson, who is free on bail, was charged based on that evidence.

  Sauk County Circuit Judge Patrick Taggart tossed out the evidence last year, ruling it stemmed from an illegal search. Prosecutors appealed, arguing Johnson had a right to privacy when he visited his wife to care for her but not when he used the room for what they contend was illegal intercourse.

  The appeals court affirmed Taggart's ruling.

Gawker

• 

  The Cougar of Secrets [Please Fix This Headline]

  Posted: September 3rd, 2008, 2:15pm CDT by Richard

  Tags:  please Fix This headline  

  Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe apparently lost his virginity, at 16, to an older woman—an age difference that would "freak some people out." I'm looking at you, Professor McGonagall. [Us]

  
  

  

  
• 

  Breaking Economic News [Headline Of The Day]

  Posted: August 20th, 2008, 4:43pm CDT by Pareene

  Tags:  headline of the Day  

  America's fiscal crisis finally hits us where it hurts. We hear the prices these days are obscene. (Very special thanks to tipster A.H.) [Reuters]

  
  

  

  

PerezHilton.com

• 

  Headline Of The Week Weak

  Posted: August 14th, 2008, 8:15am CDT by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "For elderly, sex doesn't have to get old
  Survey: Two-thirds of men, nearly half of women aged 75-85 still rocking"

  Thanks, Viagra! CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

  [Image via WENN.]

  For elderly, sex doesn't have to get old
  Survey: Two-thirds of men, nearly half of women aged 75-85 still rocking

  Getting old does not mean saying so long to sex, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.

  More than three-quarters of American men aged 75 to 85 and half of women that age are still interested in sex, a survey of the elderly by University of Chicago researchers found.

  "It's not age per se; that when you get to 80 it's all over with," said sociologist Edward Laumann, who led the study of 3,000 American men and women aged 57 to 85 who lived at home, not in nursing homes.

  "It's driven by more proximate factors such as if you become obese, or you're smoking too much, or you contract diabetes. Medications can depress sexual interest. The aging process itself is not a major factor driving these results," he said in a telephone interview.

  Laumann and his team, who performed a companion survey of younger adults nearly a decade ago, found that sexual dysfunction such as experiencing pain during sex or an inability to achieve orgasm tend to increase as adults reach middle age but then plateaus.

  In the survey of elderly Americans, two-thirds of the men and nearly half the women had been sexually active in the past year, they reported in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.

  The reasons for losing interest in sex are wrapped up in several physical and mental health factors, Laumann said.

  "If sexual health goes to hell, it may be a canary in the mine shaft. It may be a sign of health problems," Laumann said, urging doctors to investigate if sexual problems arise.

  Chronic urinary tract infections and incontinence often suppress sex lives, he said.

  Anxiety a big factor
  Having a partner to have sex with can also be problematic for the elderly. Among women aged 70 and older, 70 percent have outlived or are separated from their spouses. Among men in that age group, 35 percent have lost a long-time partner.

  If the surviving relationship is bad, that can snuff out the couple's sex life, Laumann added.

  "Anxiety is very clearly a big factor (in sexual dysfunction) for women, and depression in men," he said. "And men can become very depressed because of sexual dysfunction."

  Erectile dysfunction increases from 31 percent among men aged 57 to 64 to more than 40 percent among older men. Laumann said he had found in other research that 14 percent of men of all ages had tried erectile dysfunction drugs.

  Those who have attended college are less likely to have sexual problems than the less-educated, Laumann said, presumably because the educated tend to dismiss myths about sex and aging and are more likely to seek out answers.

  Last month, Swedish researchers reported that 70-year-olds of both sexes are having more sex than they did 30 years ago, with 68 percent of married men and 54 percent of women saying they were having sex in 2001, up from 52 percent of men in the early 1970s and 30 percent of women.

• 

  Headline Of The Week Weak

  Posted: August 9th, 2008, 1:13pm CDT by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Grandma Arrested for Driving With 3-Year-Old on Roof for Fun"

  WTF??? CLICK HERE to read the story about the crazy grannie (not the woman pictured above).

  [Image via WENN.]

  Grandma Arrested for Driving With 3-Year-Old on Roof for Fun

  MARATHON, Fla — Authorities say a grandmother was arrested for driving around the parking lot of a Marathon grocery store with her 3-year-old child sitting on the roof of the car.

  Monroe County Sheriff's Office deputies were called to the Publix store Tuesday and arrested a 54-year-old woman after she was driving around with her three-year-old granddaughter on the roof of her car.

  The grandmother was released from jail 15 hours later.

  The woman said Thursday she would never let anything hurt her granddaughter. She says she was driving at "snail-speed" and holding the child's leg.

  Authorities say the woman told police she was giving the child some air and letting her have fun.

  She faces charges of child abuse. The child is back with her mother.

• 

  Headline Of The Week Weak

  Posted: July 29th, 2008, 8:15am CDT by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Police: Man shot lawn mower that wouldn't start"

  And, yes, he was arrested. CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

  [Image via WENN.]

  Police: Man shot lawn mower that wouldn't start

  A 56-year-old Milwaukee man is accused of shooting his lawn mower because it wouldn't start.

  Keith Walendowski has been charged with felony possession of a short-barreled shotgun or rifle and misdemeanor disorderly conduct while armed.

  According to the criminal complaint, Walendowski says he was angry because his Lawn Boy wouldn't start Wednesday morning. He told police: "I can do that, it's my lawn mower and my yard so I can shoot it if I want."

  A woman who lives at Walendowski's house reported the incident. She says he was intoxicated.

  Walendowski could face up to an $11,000 fine and six years and three months in prison if convicted.

  A call to Walendowski's home went unanswered Friday.

• 

  Headline of the Week Weak

  Posted: July 26th, 2008, 12:14pm CDT by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Boy ends up at Hooters after slipping out of day care"

  You go, boy! CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

  [Image via WENN.]

  Boy ends up at Hooters after slipping out of day care

  Investigators are looking into how a young boy managed to slip out of a Denton day care center unnoticed, then cross two busy roads and end up a half-mile away at a Hooters restaurant on Tuesday afternoon.

  The five-year-old boy walked out of the Imagination Station child care center in the 2300 block of San Jacinto Boulevard near Golden Triangle Mall.

  He then crossed busy Dallas Drive to go to a RaceTrac gas station to purchase a soft drink and snacks.

  After leaving the station, he ended up in the Hooters parking lot about a half-mile away.

  The restaurant's general manager Brian Mason and his employees spotted the child shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday.

  "I was pretty impressed that he made it that way without getting hurt," Mason said. "He let us know that he looked both ways before crossing the road, stopped in the middle and then crossed again."

  With no chaperone for the boy in sight, Mason called police.

  "We kept him in the back coloring and kept him pretty occupied until the police showed up," he said.

  Deborah Pugh, the day care owner, said the boy had asked to go to the bathroom before he disappeared. When his father arrived minutes later to pick up the child, workers said they realized the boy was missing.

  Pugh said she believes he got out through a fire exit, which, by law, must remain unlocked.

  "We are looking into the timeline," said Denton police spokesman Jim Bryan, "but I think the greater concern is the distance that this child went and the timeframe that he was not in the day care."

  Despite what happened, some parents told News 8 they still trust the Imagination Station.

  "She [Pugh] is a caring woman and I like how she takes the children," said Grace Shotayo, one of the parents. "She really cares for them."

  Imagination Station is subject to state inspection every three to five months. According to records, the day care has been cited for at least eight violations since 2006. Two of the citations were for improper supervision; the most recent one was issued in April.

  Pugh said this is the first time a child has disappeared while in her care since she opened Imagination Station 13 years ago. She said she plans to install an alarm at the emergency exit, and is now escorting all children to the bathroom.

  The five-year-old has not been back to the day care since the incident.

  State child care licensing workers and police investigators are looking into the case to determine whether they will take action against the center and its owner.

• 

  Headline of the Week Weak

  Posted: July 20th, 2008, 4:52am CDT by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Woman accused of smacking beau with toilet seat"

  Drugs make people do such crazy things! CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

  Woman accused of smacking beau with toilet seat

  FORT PIERCE, Fla. - Police arrested a couple after the woman allegedly hit her boyfriend with a toilet seat. The woman, 18, told police that she found her boyfriend smoking cocaine in their bathroom and turned on the shower to try and wash away the drugs.

  The pair argued and when he refused to give up the drugs, authorities say the woman hit him with the toilet seat.

  The boyfriend was charged with cocaine possession and later released on bond. The woman faces a battery charge and was released without posting bond.

• 

  Headline of the Week Weak

  Posted: July 18th, 2008, 8:45am CDT by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Girl Scout Camp Marijuana Farm Busted"

  Forget about the cookies! What about the pot brownies??? CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

  Girl Scout Camp Marijuana Farm Busted
  Camp Officials Horrified To Learn That 5,000 Plants Had Been Found Growing On Their Grounds

  Police found thousands of marijuana plants being grown in a remote part of a Girl Scout camp, according to court documents and a scout official.

  Officials at Camp Ella J. Logan were dismayed when they found out what had happened, said Sherri Weidman, chief executive of the Limberlost Girl Scout Council.

  Police found the hidden marijuana farm with plants in various stages of cultivation in a wooded swampy area of Kosciusko County, according to documents filed Monday in U.S. District Court in South Bend. Some of the plants were growing on land belonging to a local resident, while the bulk - about 5,000 plants - were growing on camp land. State troopers in an airplane spotted the plots.

  Mario Comacho, 44, Mariano Gonzales, 38, and a juvenile were arrested last week after police found the farm. Comacho and Gonzales, both of Goshen, appeared for an initial hearing Monday in federal court on charges of possession of more than 1,000 marijuana plants with the intent to distribute. Neither man had an attorney, according to court documents.

  Johnny Coy, who owns part of the land where the pot was found growing, said he wasn't aware of the operation and rarely visits the swampy area.

  Weidman said the area was in a remote part of the 220-acre camp accessible only by wading through the muck or taking a canoe. The land was bought by the council to provide a safety buffer, she said.

  Parents of campers were informed of the discovery when they picked up their children.

• 

  Headline of the Week Weak

  Posted: July 16th, 2008, 8:00am CDT by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Woman accused of offering sex to get out of drunken driving arrest"

  How could you resist that offer????? Read the article accompanying that headline…after the jump.

  Woman accused of offering sex to get out of drunken driving arrest

  A Michigan woman reportedly attempted to get out of a drunken driving arrest Friday by offering sexual favors and $10,000 to a Wisconsin Dells police officer.

  Elizabeth Ann Kommes, 30, of Iron Mountain, Mich., is free on $1,000 bail after she was arrested and charged with drunken driving as a fifth offense and bribery of a public official, both felonies, and with misdemeanor operation after revocation.

  Bystanders reported to police that they saw an intoxicated woman leave a Wisconsin Dells parking lot driving a red Pontiac Grand Am with Michigan license plates "TROUBLE," according to a criminal complaint.

  Kommes was stopped by officers and tested for sobriety. After she was informed she was under arrest for drunken driving, Kommes allegedly offered an officer $10,000 and suggested sexual favors to let her go.

  Kommes told officers she was on probation in Michigan for possessing three pounds of marijuana and that the arrest would result in her being sent to prison in Michigan for violation of her probation, the complaint stated.

  Kommes was convicted of drunken driving in Wisconsin in 2000, 2001 and 2006, and in Michigan in 2007. Her driver's license was revoked in 2006, according to the complaint.

  If convicted of the felony charges, Kommes faces up to six years in prison and $20,000 in fines.

  She is scheduled to appear in court next on Aug. 25.

• 

  Headline of the Week Weak

  Posted: July 4th, 2008, 1:48pm CDT by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Plasma, LCDs blamed for accelerating global warming"

  Are they serious???? CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

  Plasma, LCDs blamed for accelerating global warming

  A gas used in the making of flat screen televisions, nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), is being blamed for damaging the atmosphere and accelerating global warming.

  Almost half of the televisions sold around the globe so far this year have been plasma or LCD TVs.

  But this boom could be coming at a huge environmental cost.

  The gas, widely used in the manufacture of flat screen TVs, is estimated to be 17,000 times as powerful as carbon dioxide.

  Ironically, NF3 is not covered by the Kyoto protocol as it was only produced in tiny amounts when the treaty was signed in 1997.

  Levels of this gas in the atmosphere have not been measured, but scientists say it is a concern and are calling for it to be included in any future emissions cutting agreement.

  Professor Michael Prather from the University of California has highlighted the issue in an article for the magazine New Scientist.

  He has told ABC's The World Today program that output of the gas needs to be measured.

  "One of my titles for this paper was Going Below Kyoto's Radar. It's the kind of gas that's made in huge amounts," he said.

  "Not only is it not in the Kyoto Treaty but you don't even have to report it. That's the part that worries me."

  He estimates 4,000 tons of NF3 will be produced in 2008 and that number is likely to double next year.

  "We don't know what's emitted, but what they're producing every year dwarfs these giant coal-fired power plants that are like the biggest in the world," he said.

  "And it dwarfs two of the Kyoto gases. So the real question we don't know is how much is escaping and getting out."

  Dr Paul Fraser is the chief research scientist at the CSIRO's marine and atmospheric research centre, and an IPCC author.

  He says without measuring the quantity of NF3 in the atmosphere it is unclear what impact it will have on the climate.

  "We haven't observed it in the atmosphere. It's probably there in very low concentrations," he said.

  "The key to whether it's a problem or not is how much is released to the atmosphere."

• 

  Headline of the Week Weak

  Posted: July 3rd, 2008, 10:30am CDT by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Police Nab Burglar Drenched In Barbecue Sauce"

  What was he doing drenched in sauce??? Celebrating Independence Day early???? CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

  Appleton police nab burglar drenched in barbecue sauce

  Police early today arrested a man drenched in barbecue sauce after being called to a home for a burglary in progress.

  Officers responded to a home in the 1600 block of Wilmer Street just after 4:30 a.m.

  The couple living there heard whistling coming from their basement after the alarm clock sounded, police report.

  The male resident armed himself with a shotgun and went to the basement stairs to find the light on. He turned the lights off, which led the burglar to ask what he was doing.

  The burglar, who turned 35 today, left the basement and put his hands up upon seeing the firearm.

  The burglar said he entered the home because he was on the run from the government, according to police. The barbecue sauce, he said, was an “urban disguise.”

  The man was wearing the woman’s jacket and the man’s hat upon arrest, police report. His shoes had been left in the basement.

  The man was booked into the Outagamie County Jail on one count of burglary.

  Items taken from the home included a can of soda — and a bottle of barbecue sauce.

• 

  Headline of the Week Weak

  Posted: June 22nd, 2008, 2:40pm CDT by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Internet addiction is a 'clinical disorder'

  Lovesit! CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

  Internet addiction is a 'clinical disorder'

  Obsessive internet use is a public health problem which is so serious it should be officially recognised as a clinical disorder, according to a leading psychiatrist.

  British psychiatrists have previously reported that between five and 10 per cent of online users are internet addicts
  Sufferers spend unhealthy amounts of time playing online games, viewing pornography or emailing.

  They suffer four symptoms: They forget to eat and sleep; they need more advanced technology or more hours online as they develop 'resistance' to the pleasure given by their current system; if they are deprived of their computer, they experience genuine withdrawal symptoms; And in common with other addictions, the victims also begin to have more arguments, to suffer fatigue, to get lower marks in tests and to feel isolated from society.

  Early research into the subject found highly educated, socially awkward men were the most likely sufferers but more recent work suggests it is now more of a problem for middle-aged women who are spending hours at home on their computers.

  Psychiatrist Dr Jerald Block said some sufferers were so addicted to the internet that they required medication or even hospital treatment to curb the time they spent on the web.

  He said: "The relationship is with the computer. It becomes a significant other to them. They exhaust emotions that they could experience in the real world on the computer through any number of mechanisms: emailing, gaming, porn."

  He added: "It's much more acceptable for kids to talk about game use, whereas adults keep it a secret. Rather than having sex, or arguing with their wife or husband, or feeding their children, these adults are playing games."

  Dr Block, of the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, in the USA, first made the claims in an editorial for the American Journal of Psychiatry.

  British psychiatrists have previously reported that between five and 10 per cent of online users are internet addicts.

• 

  Headline of the Week Weak

  Posted: June 18th, 2008, 8:15am CDT by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Cross-dressing teens get own school bathroom
  Thai officials launch 'transvestite toilet' in bid to cope with growing need"

  Fierce! CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

  [Image via WENN.]

  Cross-dressing teens get own school bathroom
  Thai officials launch 'transvestite toilet' in bid to cope with growing need

  A secondary school in rural Thailand has designed a new bathroom that it calls a "transvestite toilet" for its growing community of cross-dressers.

  The Kampang School in northeastern Thailand conducted a survey last term that showed more than 200 of the school's 2,600 students considered themselves transvestites, said school director Sitisak Sumontha.

  So, when classes resumed in May, the school unveiled a unisex restroom designated by a human figure split into two, half man in blue, and half female in red. Below the figure, it says, "Transvestite Toilet."

  Three transgender students praised the new restroom as they plucked their eyebrows and applied face powder in front of the mirror outside the stalls.

  Tolerant
  "I'm so happy about this," Vichai Sangsakul, a teenager with a pixie hairdo pulled back with a pink barrette, told Thailand's PBS new channel on Tuesday. "It looks bad going to female restrooms. What would other people think?"

  Most rural Thais are conservative in many ways, but the trailblazing toilet initiative at the school in northeastern Sisaket province reflects another aspect of Thai society: its tolerance of the country's very visible transsexual and transvestite community.

  "These students want to be able to go to the restroom in peace without fear of being watched, laughed at or groped," said school director Sitisak Sumontha. Using female restrooms made some of the other students uncomfortable and using the men's room often resulted in harassment, he said.

  'Uneasy'
  "They don't have problems with transvestites but going to the same private area, like a toilet, makes them uneasy," he said. "The transvestite kids may behave even more effeminately than the girls, do but their anatomy is still like that of a boy."

  He said the concept reflected a growing need at Thai schools and universities.

  Kampang is not Thailand's first educational institution to set up transvestite washrooms, though Sitisak said he believed it was a first for a secondary school. A 1,500-student technical college in the northern province of Chiang Mai set up a "Pink Lotus Bathroom" for its 15 transvestite students in 2003.

  Deputy Education Minister Boonlue Prasertsopar recently said the ministry plans to count the number of transvestite university students.

  He said he was not promoting trans-gender interests, "but if there are a lot of them in a university and it's a problem, we may have to consider building toilets and dormitories for them."

  Transsexuals and transvestites are regularly seen on TV soap operas and throughout Bangkok, working at department store cosmetics counters, popular restaurants, in office jobs and in the capital's red-light districts. Thailand also has a trans-gender beauty pageants.

• 

  Headline of the Week Weak

  Posted: June 6th, 2008, 9:45am CDT by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Convicted steroids dealer who gave names to NFL found dead"

  Uh oh! CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

  Convicted steroids dealer who gave names to NFL found dead

  PLANO, Texas — A convicted steroids dealer who recently met with NFL security officials and gave them names of players he said bought steroids from him has been found dead in his home.

  Early Thursday morning, Plano police made a welfare check and found 35-year-old David Jacobs and 30-year-old Amanda Jo Earhart-Savell dead. Both had been shot.

  Officer Rick McDonald, a police spokesman, said the officers were making a welfare check after relatives of Earhart-Savell expressed concern about her whereabouts.

  According to the Dallas Morning News, which first reported the story, Jacobs and Earhart-Savell had been in an on-again, off-again relationship, and at one point were engaged to be married.

  Heather Bowden, also a spokeswoman for the Plano police, told the New York Times in a telephone interview, "At this point, it is a homicide investigation, and we have no reason to believe otherwise."

  Jacobs was sentenced to three years of probation and fined $25,000 on May 1 after pleading guilty last year in federal court in Dallas to conspiring to possess with intent to distribute anabolic steroids.

  According to ESPN the Magazine senior writer Shaun Assael, who had been in contact with Jacobs throughout May, Jacobs was reticent and nervous about the information he had and the people it implicated.

  When explaining why he did not want to go public, Jacobs said: "The kinds of people I know about could put a bullet in the back of my head."

  Jacobs's father, also named David, of Jasper, Ga., told The Times in a telephone interview that he received a call from an anonymous person, who told Jacobs to call the Plano police. Jacobs said police were unable to tell him much about what might have transpired.

  "I spoke with David through a text message about three or four days ago, and he said he was fine," Jacobs told The Times. "He has been trying to rebuild his life. He got crossed with some bad things and made some bad choices. At this point, I am just beside myself."

  The Morning News reported it had spoken with Jacobs frequently and exchanged e-mails with him as recently as last weekend. Jacobs had sought to rebuild his nutritional supplement business, but he was experiencing financial problems and having trouble getting his old client base to work with him, according to the report.

  On May 21, Jacobs met with NFL security officials in the Dallas area and gave them names of players he said bought steroids from him, according to Hank Hockeimer, his lawyer.

  Hockeimer told the newspaper on Thursday he had not yet been briefed about the situation at Jacobs' house.

  The NFL requested the meeting after Jacobs was sentenced to three years of probation on May 1 for a single count of conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids. He had cooperated with federal authorities since his arrest last year.

  "We offer our sympathy to the families of David Jacobs and Amanda Jo Earhart-Savell," the league said in a statement. "As we have previously confirmed, our security representatives interviewed David Jacobs on two occasions. We are reviewing the information to determine if there is documented evidence establishing any violations of our program and will follow up on any other information that is provided.

  "It is premature to comment on any specific player at this time. Anyone found to have violated our policies will be subject to discipline, including suspension. We will continue to be responsive to any needs of law enforcement on this matter."

  Neighbors who were still gathered at the scene about 12 hours after officers arrived said they became aware of Jacobs through television news reports, but didn't know him well. They said they didn't see any suspicious activity or hear any gunshots.

  One neighbor who reached out to Jacobs after his guilty plea by asking him to warn children about the dangers of drugs said she didn't believe police when they told her he was dead.
  "Knowing somebody died this way, it's hard to take," Yeharerwerk Gashaw said. "I was shocked."
  By his own account, Jacobs was a prolific salesman, moving 1,000 bottles of anabolic steroids a month and an equal number of growth hormone kits that he obtained illicitly from China.

  Hockeimer had said that league officials seemed "genuinely interested" in what Jacobs had to say, as well as in canceled checks and e-mails that he provided.

  Jacobs has publicly acknowledged that he dealt primarily with two NFL players and earlier identified one of them as offensive lineman Matt Lehr.

  Last month, Jacobs told the Morning News that Lehr purchased tens of thousands of dollars of steroids and growth hormone from the spring of 2006 to the spring of 2007. He also told the paper that Lehr agreed to have boxes of raw steroid powder from China shipped directly to his Georgia home.

  Lehr served a four-game suspension while a member of the Atlanta Falcons in October 2006 after he tested positive for a banned substance. He spent last season with Tampa Bay and was acquired by the Saints in the offseason.

  Lehr's attorney, Paul Coggins, has said the player hasn't used banned substances since he was suspended and has since passed NFL drug tests. The attorney has also said Jacobs' allegations are retaliation because Lehr wouldn't pay Jacobs' legal fees.

  After his sentencing, Jacobs told The New York Times that he hoped to tell league officials about "loopholes in their program." He also said he'd advised about 10 players to use finasteride, a drug to treat balding, because it masks steroid use.

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  Headline of the Week Weak

  Posted: May 31st, 2008, 12:55am CDT by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Sumo wrestler has to take pay cut after hitting apprentice with ladle"

  Doh! CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

  Sumo wrestler has to take pay cut after hitting apprentice with lad

  A veteran sumo wrestler who attacked a junior grappler with a cooking utensil has been ordered to take a salary cut for his violent outburst.

  Toyozakura, whose ladle-wielding assault left the 18-year-old victim bleeding and needing eight stitches, will take a 30 percent pay cut for three months, Japanese sumo officials said on Thursday.

  The same punishment was meted out to gym chief Magaki for beating a junior wrestler with a bamboo sword in the latest in a series of incidents that has tarnished sumo's image.

  Toyozakura, 34, apologized after admitting he used a ladle to hit the apprentice on the head.

  "I asked him to do something, which I don't remember exactly, but he couldn't do it," Toyozakura said, according to Agence France-Presse.

  Sumo dates back some 2,000 years and retains many Shinto religious overtones, but the sport has been plagued by scandal in recent months.

  Violent hazing, or beating during training, has long been seen as customary, contributing to the sport's struggle to attract new recruits. But there was a public outcry over the death last year of a teenage apprentice who was beaten with a beer bottle and a baseball bat.

  Japan's government has weighed in on the issue, ordering sumo officials to clean up their act.

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  Headline of the Week Weak

  Posted: May 25th, 2008, 4:13pm CDT by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Dealer Offers Free Gun With Car Purchase"

  Only in America! CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

  Dealer Offers Free Gun With Car Purchase

  BUTLER, Mo. — A local car dealer is holding a controversial promotion involving guns.

  Max Motors in Butler is offering anyone who buys a car the choice of $250 in gas or a free semi-automatic handgun.

  "Like I say, it's a choice — protection or gas," said Walter Moore with Max Motors.

  Moore said he came up with the gas or guns promotion.

  "We got high gas prices, theft, carjackings, innocent people getting hurt," Moore told KMBC's Chris Nagus.

  So far, the handgun is a more popular choice.

  "Right now were running 80 percent toward the gun," Moore said.

  "Love guns, we all need to have guns," said Jerry Hertzog, who was buying a new truck. "Guns or gas or fuel, I'll take the gun anytime."

  But the idea isn't popular with everyone. One viewer told KMBC that he believes the promotion is dangerous.

  "I don't understand what's the bad idea. Telling people they have a right to protect themselves," Moore said.

  Moore said most of his customers already own weapons.

  "I get in a vehicle to bid a trade, there are guns in the seats, guns in the back windows. Everybody has a gun — there's no backlash," Moore said.

  Moore said the dealership will hand the customer a certificate to get the gun, but you must pass a background check.

  The local police chief said he is OK with the promotion as long as the weapons aren't handed out at the dealership.

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  Headline of the Week Weak

  Posted: May 10th, 2008, 7:17pm CDT by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "A 13 year old boy from Texas is convicted of fraud after using his Father's credit cards to hire escorts."

  P-I-M-P! CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

  [Image via Vanity Fair.]

  A 13 year old boy from Texas is convicted of fraud after using his Father's credit cards to hire escorts.

  A 13 year old from Texas who stole his Dad's credit card and ordered two hookers from an escort agency, has today been convicted of fraud and given a three year community order.

  Ralph Hardy, a 13 year old from Newark, Texas confessed to ordering an extra credit card from his father's existing credit card company, and took his friends on a $30,000 spending spree, culminating in playing "Halo" on an Xbox with a couple of hookers in a Texas motel.

  The credit card company involved said it was regular practice to send extra credit cards out as long as all security questions are answered.

  The escort girls who were released without charge, told the arresting officers something was up when the kids said they would rather play Xbox than get down to business.

  Police said they were alerted to the motel by a concerned delivery clerk, whom after delivering supplies of Dr Pepper, Fritos and Oreos had been asked by the kids where they could score some chicks and were willing to pay. They explained they had just made a big score at a "World of Warcraft" tournament and wanted to get some relaxation. On noting the boys age the delivery clerk informed the authorities.

  When police arrived at the motel they found $3,000 in cash, numerous electronic gadgets, an Xbox video console with numerous games, and the two local escort girls.

  Ralph had reportedly told police that his father wouldn't mind, as it was his birthday last week and he had forgot to get him a present. The father, a lawyer said he had been too busy, but would take him on a surprise trip to Disneyland instead.

  Asked why he ordered two escorts, Ralph said he thought it was the thing to do when you win a "World of Warcraft" tournament. They told the suspicious working girls they were people of restricted growth working with a traveling circus, and as State law does not allow those with disabilities to be discriminated against they had no right to refuse them.

  The $1,000 a night girls sensing something up played "Halo" on the Xbox with the kids, instead of selling their sexual services.

  Ralph's ambition is to one day become a politician.

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  Headline of the Week Weak

  Posted: April 25th, 2008, 8:17am CDT by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Police: Woman lived with mummified sister"

  Krazie!!!! CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

  [Photo via Getty Images.]

  Police: Woman lived with mummified sister

  Mentally-ill sibling thought to have kept body in kitchen for up to 3 years

  DETROIT - The partially mummified body of an elderly woman has been found on the kitchen floor of a house where her mentally troubled sister was living, police said.

  Investigators believe the surviving sister had been living with the body for up to three years. They say the body was partially covered with newspapers and that a cat and dog apparently ate part of it.

  The Detroit Free Press says authorities removed the surviving sister Wednesday night and took her to a crisis center. She is also aged in her 80s and appears to have mental problems.

  Police say they went to the house after a neighbor called to express concern.

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  Headline of the Week Weak

  Posted: April 23rd, 2008, 8:20am CDT by Perez Hilton

  Tags:  headline of the Week  

  

  "Girl To Have Surgery On Large Facial Tumor
  Tumor Could Grow, Causing Vietnamese Teen To Suffocate

  Poor thing! CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

  Girl To Have Surgery On Large Facial Tumor
  Tumor Could Grow, Causing Vietnamese Teen To Suffocate

  MIAMI — A Vietnamese girl with a 17-pound facial tumor is awaiting life-saving surgery that will restore her ability to eat and speak.

  Lai Thi Dao, 15, suffers from a Schwannoma tumor that has been growing since she was 3. The tumor has severely disfigured her face and kept her from attending school.

  "She had been with no treatment for the last 10 years," said Dr. Jesus Gomez, who is performing the surgery. "Something that started like a small black bean at the tongue now has become this huge tumor."

  Doctors at the University of Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital said the tumor, likely the largest Schwannoma tumor ever reported in the world, has grow