It swine flu vaccine safe?

With flu season comes, more and more people think it is better to get flu shot earlier. Especially with current swine flu situation. However, as it was mentioned in previous post, people could get killed by take the swine flu vaccine? That is pretty scary. What about you, what do you think? Vote to see how other people think:



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Vaccine Skeptics Take Note: The Flu Can Kill

Skeptical of H1N1? The risks are real: A pregnant woman struck with swine flu suffered five weeks in a coma -- and lost her baby.
pregnant flu vaccine Aubrey Opdyke Scott Wiseman for The New York Times

Vivian Manning-Schaffel: Much has been written about the H1N1 virus. Many think it's the media darling of illnesses, that the hype is what's got so many of us wiping and disinfecting ourselves and treating our kids like the mini-petri dishes they are.

But for high-risk folks, like young babies and pregnant women, the outcome of H1N1 can be tragic. The New York Times just ran a piece about 27-year-old Aubrey Opdyke, a pregnant South Florida woman who nearly died from "The Swine" and was forced to deliver her daughter prematurely at 27 weeks. She lived all of seven minutes.

The article describes her suffering as formidable: "In the four months she was hospitalized, she spent five weeks in a coma, suffered six collapsed lungs and a near-fatal seizure. High-pressure ventilation blew her up like a molten balloon until 'she looked like she weighed 400 pounds,'" her husband, Bryan, said, and she has stretch marks from her neck to her ankles. Her muscles and lungs are still so weak that she uses a walker.

"While hospitalized, she missed seeing her 4-year-old daughter, Hope, learn to swim and start pre-school.

"And, most important, she lost her baby. Parker Christine Opdyke, almost 27 weeks in the womb, was delivered by emergency Caesarean section on July 18, when her fetal heart rate plummeted during Ms. Opdyke's third lung collapse. Her airways were too blocked to let a breathing tube in, possibly a side effect of the drugs saving her mother."

Scared yet? Here's more from the article:

"On Oct. 1, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 100 pregnant women had been in intensive care with swine flu and 28 had died. That is a tiny fraction of what are believed to have been millions of cases in the country. But it is the best argument, federal officials say, for the drawn-out, expensive effort to make a swine flu vaccine.

"Pregnant women are particularly susceptible because they are in the younger age group most likely to catch this new virus, while those over 50 who have had more flus rarely catch it. Moreover, pregnancy suppresses the immune system to protect the fetus, and the growing baby makes it harder for a mother to clear her lungs."

Holy smokes.

I'm no stranger to "The Swine." Before there was a vaccine, my school-aged kid contracted what his doctors thought was H1N1 from a classmate (New York was out of tests), and after a week of fever and mild malaise, he was good to go on with his life unscathed. For many adults who aren't pregs and older kids without overhanging health risks, this will likely be the case.

But if I were pregs, I'd be hightailing it to my doc for a dose. Especially after reading this article.

Do any of you preggos plan on getting the H1N1 shot when it becomes available?

Read more: http://www.momlogic.com/2009/10/pregnant_swine_flu_vaccine_skeptics_take_note_the_flu_can_kill.php#ixzz0UjMUd7GR

32-carat diamond sells for $7.7M at NYC auction

NEW YORK – A square, 32.01-carat emerald-cut diamond that billionaire philanthropist Leonore Annenberg bought for her 90th birthday sold for $7.7 million at auction on Wednesday.

About the size of a walnut, the flawless, colorless diamond sits on a ring designed by Manhattan jeweler David Webb. It is flanked by two pear-shaped diamonds, one of them 1.61 carats and the other 1.51 carats.

The ring was offered for sale by Annenberg's estate. Christie's auction house did not identify the buyer, who bid by phone.

Annenberg died in March at the age of 91. She served as U.S. chief of protocol during President Ronald Reagan's first term — a position that carried the rank of ambassador. Her husband, Walter Annenberg, a billionaire publisher and ambassador to Britain under President Richard Nixon, died in 2002.

The big diamond "combines the best of the four C's: top color, perfect clarity, ideal cut and excellent weight," said Francois Curiel, international head of Christie's jewels.

With the "impeccable provenance of the Annenberg name, you have one of the finest gems to appear on the market for many years," he said.

Annenberg purchased the ring for herself to mark her 90th birthday, Christie's said. It was delivered by armed guards to her Rancho Mirage, Calif., home from the Beverly Hills jeweler's store, it said. She was thrilled whenever someone came by to admire it, the auction house said.

The ring's pre-sale estimate was $3 million to $5 million. The previous auction record for a 30-carat square cut flawless, colorless diamond was $3.1 million, set at Christie's in Geneva in May.

The record for any diamond or jewel at auction is $24.3 million for the 17th century cushion-shaped grayish-blue 35.56 carat Wittelsbach Diamond. It was sold at Christie's in December 2008, topping the previous record of $16.5 million for a 100-carat diamond sold in 1995 in Geneva.

In May, a rare 7.03-carat blue diamond sold at Sotheby's for $9.5 million — the highest price ever for a gem of its kind.

Walter and Leonore Annenberg donated $4.2 billion to cultural, educational and medical institutions through the Annenberg Foundation. In 2002, their collection of French Impressionist art was donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where Leonore Annenberg was a member of the acquisitions committee.

She was also a trustee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and served on the Trustee's Council of The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

Her husband established the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania and at the University of Southern California.

ESPN’s Phillips takes leave, admits to affair

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)—ESPN baseball analyst Steve Phillips acknowledged having an affair with an assistant at the cable network and has taken a leave of absence during the playoffs.

Phillips said Wednesday in a statement released by ESPN that he requested the leave “to address this with my family and to avoid any unnecessary distractions through the balance of the baseball playoffs.”

ESPN said it took “appropriate disciplinary action” when this happened in August, but would not comment further.

Police say 22-year-old ESPN production assistant Brooke Hundley began calling Phillips’ wife, Marni, on Aug. 5 after he broke off the affair and sent her a letter graphically describing their relationship and Phillips’ birthmarks. She allegedly told Phillips’ wife that “we both can’t have him,” according to a Wilton, Conn., police report.
FILE - In this Oct. 28, 2002, file photo, New York Mets general manager Steve Phillips introduces new Mets manager Art Howe during a news conference at Shea Stadiium in New York. ESPN baseball analyst Steve Phillips admits having an affair with an assistant at the cable network who taunted his wife with phone calls and a letter graphically describing their relationship, the New York Post reported Wednesday, “I’m a real person in his life and I care deeply about his happiness,” reads the letter police said is from Hundley. “I’m coming out now because I’m sick of hiding and sneaking around behind your back.”

The police report was first reported Wednesday by the New York Post.

The 46-year-old Phillips is a former general manager of the New York Mets. In 1998, Phillips admitted having sex with a team employee, who sued for sexual harassment. That case was settled out of court.

Marni Phillips called police Aug. 19 when she came home to find Hundley in her driveway. “I knew instinctively that this was the woman Steve was involved with and I was terrified,” she wrote in a statement to police.

Hundley’s car smashed into a stone column as she backed out of the driveway and she escaped by driving across the lawn. Marni Phillips said she discovered a note describing her husband’s relationship with Hundley attached to her front door.

Later that evening, the Phillips’ 16-year-old son told his parents that Hundley had posed as a high school classmate and sent repeated instant messages asking personal questions about his family and his parents’ marriage, according to the police report. She also posed as a second friend, contacting him through the son’s Facebook account, the report said.

“This woman has clearly displayed erratic behavior and delusional tendencies,” Phillips said in a statement to police. ” She has shown up at our house. She has taken on the identity of at least two people (minors) to violate our son (a minor). I have extreme concerns about the health and safety of my kids and myself.”

Phillips also signed a statement to police that he would not press charges. The status of the police investigation was unclear Wednesday. The report indicated a detective planned to interview Hundley next week when she returned from vacation.

Neither Phillips, Hundley nor Wilton police immediately returned calls Wednedsay from the AP. ESPN said Hundley is still employed at the network.

According to the Wilton police report, Phillips told police and his wife about the affair after being pressed to do so by Hundley. He said the affair was three meetings that all took place in July. Marni Phillips told police she had received “harassing phone calls and text messages” from a woman who claimed to have information about her husband.

Marni Phillips filed for divorce Sept. 14, according to court records.

Phillips is the latest ESPN personality entangled in workplace issues involving alleged misconduct. In 2006, baseball analyst Harold Reynolds was fired after a female intern complained about what he called a “brief and innocuous hug.” Reynolds sued and settled with the network last year.

Last year, a judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by a makeup artist who accused hosts Jay Crawford and sports writer Woody Paige of groping and propositioning her on the set of the now-defunct show “Cold Pizza.”

Chris Cooley’s Idea of Fun: Burning Dead Cows

Oh, my god.., I have to say it on this one. Check out this news from http://pacmanjonesin.com by danzinski.

see that? haha. he was pouring gas onto a dead cow and was going to burn it. Here is what he said from his blog:
We were cruising around on our new land in Wyoming the other day and we found an old dead cow. So we decided that we would get rid of it by setting it on fire. Needless to say, it was a success. I will post the video of it soon, but for now here are some pictures.
Crazy man. I cann't wait to see the video of it. People says there is a video about it. I will try to find it and post it here. If you find it first, please share with us here too. That is today's OMG!!!

Is chris cooley playing well?

Is Chris Cooley playing well this season? Let's see how people think:
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Why now for Cutler?

I like this article from ESPN.com’s Kevin Seifert:

I guess Tuesday is going to be our night for extension discussion here on the NFC North blog. Moments after posting this entry on Minnesota coach Brad Childress’ contract status, we received word that Chicago had signed quarterback Jay Cutler to an extension that will keep him under contract through the 2013 season.

Some of you might wonder why this deal happened now. After all, Cutler’s rookie contract wasn’t set to expire until after the 2011 season. Here’s the best explanation I can give:

For the Bears, the reasoning was easy. If you get a chance to (somewhat) reasonably push back the expiration of your franchise quarterback’s contract, you do it. Now, the earliest Cutler will be eligible for free agency is the winter of 2014. (That’s so far away that global warming probably will have done away with winter by then.)

The decision was a little less clear for Cutler, but I think it reflects growing concern about a possible NFL lockout in 2011. Cutler had a $12 million roster bonus due that year, but it wasn’t guaranteed. So if efforts to extend the league’s collective bargaining agreement fail, leading to a work stoppage in 2011, Cutler would have lost that bonus.

The new deal guarantees that he will make at least $20 million even if the NFL ceases play. It’s possible Cutler could have gotten more if he had waited, in essence gambling against a lockout. But it’s not as if this deal will put him in the poorhouse if play continues through the 2011 season and beyond. According to ESPN’s John Clayton, Tuesday’s extension will pay Cutler a tidy $50 million over the next five years as long as they are uninterrupted by a work stoppage.

At that point, Cutler will be 30 years old and conceivably still in prime condition for another big-money contract.

I expect we’ll hear more on Wednesday from Cutler and the Bears. But if you’re surprised at the timing of this deal, hopefully you now have some better context.