Society's ChildS


Bug

Woman's bizarre behavior at Waldorf-Astoria blamed on Lyme disease

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© CDC"the tick made me do it"
A Connecticut woman, who was a guest at the Waldorf-Astoria, was taken to a New York area psychiatric hospital Saturday after doing some very unusual things in the hotel's lobby.

46-year-old Marilyn Michose reportedly was roaming the lobby wearing neon pink panties outside of her pants and a .25 caliber Beretta sticking out of her jacket.

She wandered the lobby dressed like that, and according to a hotel employee, speaking gobbledygook" when security chased her down.

As cops arrived, Michose told them she had a gun and was looking to store her precious jewelry in the hotel safe. After surrendering her weapon, police discovered the jewelry was nothing but the cheap costume variety.

Her 87-year-old mother, Joy, had an explanation for the erratic behavior- Lyme disease. Or at least the medication she takes for the bacterial infection which apparently make her manic.

Michose is currently not working and on disability. She was charged with fourth degree possession of a weapon.

Butterfly

Thousands of Mexicans March to Protest Drug Gang Violence

Drug-related violence has claimed nearly 40, 000 lives since President Calderon launched a war against organized crime four years ago

Mexico demonstration
© APPeople carrying signs reading 'Stop the War', 'No More Violence' and Mexican flags march against gang violence in Mexico City, May 8, 2011
Thousands of people marched into the Mexican capital, Mexico City, Sunday to demand an end to the bloodshed that has claimed nearly 40, 000 lives since President Calderon launched a war against organized crime four years ago.

Mexican poet Javier Sicilia, wearing a T-shirt with the photo of his slain son, led the silent trek that began Thursday in the resort city of Cuernavaca in the central state of Morelos. Along the way, hundreds of people of all ages joined the 90 kilometer march chanting slogans to stop the violence between the government and warring drug gangs.

Nuke

Leakage of Radioactive Substances Goes on in Japan

Pyongyang -- Radioactive substances are continuing to leak from the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in Japan.

The Tokyo Electric Power Co. on May 5 announced that radioactive cesium-137 of 87 000 Bq per a kilogram of earth was detected at the bottom of the waters off the area near Reactor No. 1 of the plant.

This is about 38,000 times that at the time of ordinary survey, it said. Besides, radioactive iodine-131 and radioactive cesium-134 were detected as each 52,000 Bq and 90,000 Bq per a kilogram of earth in the seabed.

It has already been confirmed that a large amount of radioactive substances are still leaking into atmosphere, according to the survey of the Cabinet Office in late April.

The work to tide over the crisis of the power plant is going through more hardship with the measurement of high level of radioactive substances in atmosphere and soil.

The work for removing contaminated water was done for several days but its amount did not decrease. There still remains 70,000 tons of contaminated water in the basements of turbine buildings at Reactors Nos. 1, 2 and 3.

The water in the basement at Reactor No. 4 rose 25cm high in two weeks by April 26, reaching 1.15m and the concentration level of radioactive substances including cesium-137 has already reached the high level defined by TEPCO.

The remains of power plant buildings scattered by hydrogen explosion also lay obstacle to the rescuing operation. It is reported that if one works for 5-6 hours in this situation, he will lose his life as the remains were contaminated by high level of radiation.

Dollar

Mother's Day: How Much Is Mom Worth?

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© WENN/NewscomSeen here is Barbara Billingsley. Billingsley played June Cleaver in the hit 1950s sitcom Leave It to Beaver. Insure.com used Bureau of Labor statistics to estimate wage figures for various jobs performed by a mom. Their estimate: $61,436 a year.
What's mom worth? On the one hand, you could say that she's "priceless." On the other? "$61,436 a year."

That's according to Amy Danise, senior managing editor of Insure.com, a website that supplies insurance information. Danise and her colleagues divided up mom's function into 14 different jobs (cook, driver, nurse, etc.), then used Bureau of Labor Statistics on hourly wages to see how much you'd have to pay if mom were outsourced.

If you didn't have her, for example, you might have to spend $6,285 a year on transportation (taxi driver or chauffeur, priced at $13.43 an hour). For cleaning, you'd have to pay a maid or housekeeper $9.40 an hour, or $7,104 a year.

You'd pay $300 a year for haircuts.

And therein lies one problem with this argument: Do you really want mom to cut your hair?

How many people, if they had a choice of using mom or a professional hairstylist or cosmetologist would use, well, mom? I mean, she's nice and all. She made your lunch for all those years. But do you really want her giving you a permanent?

People

Intolerable: Nato units left 61 African migrants to die of hunger and thirst

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© European Press Association/Francesco MalavoltaRefugees from Libya reach Lampedusa. A Nato ship failed to rescue a boat in trouble – leaving 63 people on board to die.

Boat trying to reach Lampedusa was left to drift in Mediterranean for 16 days, despite alarm being raised

Dozens of African migrants were left to die in the Mediterranean after a number of European and Nato military units apparently ignored their cries for help, the Guardian has learned.

A boat carrying 72 passengers, including several women, young children and political refugees, ran into trouble in late March after leaving Tripoli for the Italian island of Lampedusa. Despite alarms being raised with the Italian coastguard and the boat making contact with a military helicopter and a Nato warship, no rescue effort was attempted.

All but 11 of those on board died from thirst and hunger after their vessel was left to drift in open waters for 16 days. "Every morning we would wake up and find more bodies, which we would leave for 24 hours and then throw overboard," said Abu Kurke, one of only nine survivors. "By the final days, we didn't know ourselves ... everyone was either praying, or dying."

Mr. Potato

Dick Cheney praises Obama for Osama's death, but laments end of harsh tactics

cheney
© AP
Washington: Former US Vice President Dick Cheney has praised President Barack Obama for authorizing the military operation that killed Osama bin Laden, but he lamented the end of controversial Bush-era interrogations that many conservatives believe to have contributed to America's greatest counterterrorism success.

Cheney appreciated Obama for sending Navy seals on a risky helicopter raid to Osama's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan

But he fanned the flames of a renewed debate over whether the so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques" used by the Bush-era CIA were successful and lawful.

USA

Robed Muslim clerics kicked off U.S. flight after pilot refuses to take off with them (and they were en route to conference on Islamophobia)

Two Muslim religious leaders were asked to leave a commercial airliner in Memphis - and were told it was because the pilot refused to fly with them aboard.
North American Imams
© KCNCIronically, the two men were headed to a North American Imams conference discussing Islamophobia or fears of Islam and discrimination against American Muslims.

Masudur Rahman and another imam had already been allowed to board their Delta Connection flight from Memphis, Tennessee, to Charlotte, North Carolina before they were asked to get off the plane.

'It's racism and bias because of our religion and appearance and because of misinformation about our religion.' Mr Rahman said. 'If they understood Islam, they wouldn't do this.'

Mr Rahman said he and Mohamed Zaghloul, of the Islamic Association of Greater Memphis, were cleared by security agents and boarded the plane for an 8.40am departure.

The aircraft pulled away from the gate, but the pilot then announced the plane must return, Mr Rahman said.

When it did, the imams were asked to go back to the boarding gate where they were told the pilot was refusing to accept them because some other passengers could be uncomfortable.

Family

Mother's Day Proclamation

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Mother's Day was originally started after the Civil War, as a protest to the carnage of that war, by women who had lost their sons. Here is the original Mother's Day Proclamation from 1870:

Heart - Black

Cheney undecided on heart transplant operation

Dick Cheney leer
© unknown
Former Vice President Dick Cheney says he hasn't decided whether to seek a heart transplant.

Cheney tells "Fox News Sunday" that his health has improved since last year, when he was diagnosed with end-stage heart failure. He had an operation last summer to fit his body with a battery-powered device that helps his heart pump blood.

Card - VISA

US: Personal Bankruptcies, Especially Among Elderly, Surge in Massachusetts

Kathleen Kane of Quincy
© Gary Higgins/The Patriot LedgerPersonal bankruptcy cases are on the rise in Massachusetts. Bankruptcy attorney Kathleen Kane of Quincy in her office at Spillane Law Offices in Quincy.
Personal bankruptcy filings have risen to their highest levels since bankruptcy reform legislation was enacted in 2005, spurred by widespread job losses, underemployment and a stagnant real estate market.

The bankruptcy epidemic has affected a wide variety of households, from people in their prime earning years who are struggling after layoffs to retirees who are no longer able to pay their mortgages.

In Massachusetts, the total number of Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 personal bankruptcy filings rose to nearly 23,000 last year, up 16 percent from 2009. Nationally, personal bankruptcy filings rose 9 percent over the same time.