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I have been asked by numerous individuals as to how I manage to get through the Bible in one years time. It is a task I attempt to undertake every year, and I must admit that often times I find myself bunching up a few books around the end of the year to accomplish my task. There are many schedules put out every January by various Christian Churches and organizations that will guide you in accomplishing such an endeavor. I am sure those who attend church regularly will find that their Church offers a schedule every December. Unfortunately, what...

Link only due to copyright issue

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19, 2009 – American forces are waiting to see what effect the veto of Iraqi election legislation may have on the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, the commander of Multinational Force Iraq said in Baghdad yesterday. “I think we’re set up and we’re flexible enough between now and the first of May,” Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno said. “So … we won’t have to make any decisions until the late spring.” Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi’s veto of an election law recently passed by Iraq’s legislature that would allow the election to take place has thrown the...

Uninsured patients with traumatic injuries, such as car crashes, falls and gunshot wounds, were almost twice as likely to die in the hospital as similarly injured patients with health insurance, according to a troubling new study. The findings by Harvard University researchers surprised doctors and health experts who have believed emergency room care was equitable. "This is another drop in a sea of evidence that the uninsured fare much worse in their health in the United States," said senior author Dr. Atul Gawande, a Harvard surgeon and medical journalist. The study, appearing in the November issue of Archives of Surgery,...

Study: 20 Percent of Women Using Abortion Drug Face Medical Complications Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Planned Parenthood says "Our monitoring shows that mifepristone medication abortion continues to be a safe abortion option." The distributor of Mifeprex (the trade name for RU 486) says that "Mifeprex is 92-95% effective for safely ending early pregnancy." But a new study from Finland says that 20% of the women using the abortion pill suffer at least one significant complication. Nearly 4% reported two or more complications or "adverse events." http://www.LifeNews.com/int1377.html

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Researchers in the United States have found another good reason to go to the local espresso bar: several cups of coffee a day could halt the progression of liver disease, a study showed Wednesday. Sufferers of chronic hepatitis C and advanced liver disease who drank three or more cups of coffee per day slashed their risk of the disease progressing by 53 percent compared to patients who drank no coffee, the study led by Neal Freedman of the US National Cancer Institute (NCI) showed. For the study, 766 participants enrolled in the Hepatitis C Antiviral Long-Term Treatment...

The H1N1 vaccine will arrive too late to help most Americans who will be infected during this flu season, according to a study conducted by scholars at Purdue University, The Washington Times reported on Tuesday. The study also estimates that the virus — commonly referred to as the swine flu bug — will infect about 60 percent of the U.S. population, although only about 25 percent of Americans will fall ill.

University of California, Davis, researchers studying the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus, formerly referred to as "swine flu," have identified a group of immunologically important sites on the virus that are also present in seasonal flu viruses that have been circulating for years. These molecular sites appear to result in some level of immunity to the new virus in people who were exposed to the earlier influenza viruses. More than a dozen structural sites, or epitopes, in the virus may explain why many people over the age of 60, who were likely exposed to similar viruses earlier in life, carry antibodies...

LONDON (AFP) – The Arctic ice cap will disappear completely in summer months within 20 to 30 years, a polar research team said as they presented findings from an expedition led by adventurer Pen Hadow. It is likely to be largely ice-free during the warmer months within a decade, the experts added. Veteran polar explorer Hadow and two other Britons went out on the Arctic ice cap for 73 days during the northern spring, taking more than 6,000 measurements and observations of the sea ice. The raw data they collected from March to May has been analysed, producing some stark...

In Philadelphia, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania find, possessing a gun is strongly associated with getting shot. Since "guns did not protect those who possessed them," they conclude, "people should rethink their possession of guns." This is like noting that possessing a parachute is strongly associated with being injured while jumping from a plane, then concluding that skydivers would be better off unemcumbered by safety equipment designed to slow their descent. "Can this study possibly be as stupid as it sounds?" asks Stewart Baker at Skating on Stilts. Having shelled out $30 for the privilege of reading the entire...

Study: Earth is outside of ‘safe operating space’Planet taking environmental hits all at once; ‘it’s truly scary in a lot of ways’ By Emily Sohn updated 6:09 p.m. ET, Thurs., Sept . 24, 2009 We are on the verge of pushing nature into a state of instability like nothing humanity has seen before, according to a study published in the journal Nature. The study, which attempted for the first time to come up with real numbers for a set of conditions beyond which Earth may not be able to recover, found that we may have already crossed several tipping points....

PARIS (AFP) – Two-thirds of the world's major deltas, home to nearly half a billion people, are caught in the scissors of sinking land and rising seas, according to a study published Sunday. The new findings, based on satellite images, show that 85 percent of the 33 largest delta regions experienced severe flooding over the past decade, affecting 260,000 square kilometres (100,000 square miles). Delta land vulnerable to serious flooding could expand by 50 percent this century if ocean levels increase as expected under moderate climate change scenarios, the study projects. Worst hit will be Asia, but heavily populated and...

Founded around 255 BC and named after his wife Laodice by the Seleucid King Antiochus II, this city was located about 100 miles directly east of the first church mentioned by Christ, "Ephesus". Situated on one of the great Asian trade routs, Laodicea become prosperous because of its garment industry which used a black wool that had a soft texture like silk and could be found only in the Lycus Valley. However, it was also known for a medical school that grew out if it’s temple worship of the Phrygian god Men Karou, located 13 miles west of Laodicea. Its...

Study Shows One Abortion Ups Premature Birth Risk for Women by 36 Percent Ottawa, Canada (LifeNews.com) -- A new study by a Canadian researcher finds that women who have just one abortion increase the risk of having a premature birth in a subsequent pregnancy by 36 percent. The research is the latest in a long string of studies confirming the link between abortion and premature birth. http://www.LifeNews.com/int1321.html

WASHINGTON -- Terrorists are aiming for hotels and other easier-to-hit targets as security measures at military and government facilities continue to improve, says a global intelligence company. Al Qaeda is changing from a centralized organization with global goals to regional "franchises" with more parochial aims and strong grass-roots support, according to a report Tuesday from STRATFOR. These smaller cells get less training and less money, so they set their sights lower. That doesn't mean they aren't dangerous, "particularly if they are attempting to prove their value or if they are able to link up with someone who is highly tactically...

Vanda Terrell is still getting used to saying it. "Let's open our Bibles," the veteran Plano ISD teacher tells students daily at two public high schools in the district. And it's legal for her to do it. A new state law requires that Texas public schools incorporate Bible literacy into the curriculum. But the law provides no specific guidelines, funding for materials or teacher training. So high schools are left scrambling to figure out what to teach and how to teach it. A handful of North Texas districts are offering an elective class, but most are choosing instead to embed...

A new report from UC Davis researchers finds that American gun shows are the leading source of guns used in crimes, not just in the United States, but Mexico and Canada as well.

"Antiviral drug treatment of swine flu may be wasted on the elderly and should be reserved for young people, suggest researchers who created a model of the effect of antiviral treatment on the spread of the H1N1 virus."

THURSDAY, July 16 (HealthDay News) -- Deaths and injuries on America's interstates have increased since the repeal of the federal 55-mile-per-hour speed limit in 1995, a new study finds, and some believe it's time to slow down again. Researchers tracking fatalities attributed 12,545 deaths and 36,582 injuries in fatal crashes to higher speed limits implemented during the 1995-2005 study period. "Our study clearly shows that policy can directly result in more deaths as well as reducing deaths on our country's roads," said lead researcher Lee S. Friedman of the division of environmental and occupational health sciences in the School of...

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Medical device maker Medtronic Inc paid almost $800,000 in consulting fees to a former U.S. Army surgeon accused of fabricating a key study, according to published reports. The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal said the payments were made to Timothy Kuklo, who is accused of making up a report that showed positive results for Infuse, one of Medtronic's important spine products. The newspapers reported that the Army had said the study was based on false information, and that Kuklo had forged signatures of purported co-authors of the study. Medtronic told The Wall Street...

Say hello, get socializing and be happy. Medical researchers have established a direct link between a buoyant, outgoing personality and better health.

Study: US Students Lagging In Biosciences Students Showing Less Interest, Report Says COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Middle and high school students across the country are generally falling behind in life sciences, and the nation is at risk of producing a dearth of qualified workers for the fast-growing bioscience industry, according to a report released Monday. Students are showing less interest in taking life sciences and science courses, and high schools are doing a poor job of preparing students for college-level science, says the report, funded and researched by Columbus, Ohio-based Battelle, the Biotechnology Industry Organization and the Biotechnology Institute.

A group of scientists have unveiled what they say is the most comprehensive study ever of African genes. Published following a decade of study, the researchers say their findings give new insight into the origins of humans. The first humans probably evolved near the South Africa-Namibia border before migrating north, the study says. Published in the US journal Science, it aims to teach Africans on population history and aid research into why diseases hit particular groups. The scientists examined genetic material from 121 African populations, as well as four African-American populations and 60 non-African populations.

A new study concludes that children can become addicted to playing video games, with some skimping on homework, lying about how much they play and struggling, without success, when they try to cut back. In what is described as the first nationally representative study in the United States on the subject, researcher Douglas Gentile of Iowa State University found that 8.5 percent of American youths ages 8 to 18 who play video games show multiple signs of behavioral addiction.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Some 80 percent of Arctic ice may disappear in 30 years, not 90 as scientists had previously estimated, according to a new study on the impact of global warming. "The amount of the Arctic Ocean covered by ice at the end of summer by then could be only about 1 million square kilometers, or about 620,000 square miles," said US researchers who authored the study published Thursday. "That's compared to today's ice extent of 4.6 million square kilometers, or 2.8 million square miles," they added, warning the development "raises the question of ecosystem upheaval." The scientists made...

More than 14 percent of German teenagers in a recent survey said Jews must have deserved to be persecuted in the Holocaust. The survey, which was conducted by the Hanover-based Criminal Research Institute, polled 44,610 German students and was called "Youth as Victims and Perpetrators of Violence," also found that about one in every 20 German teenage boys belongs to a far-right group. The survey found that far more German boys aged 15 belong to extremists groups than to mainstream political youth clubs. In some towns or cities, membership in far-right groups is as high as 10 percent, while in...

Scottish government to withhold results of homosexual adoption study Cardinal Keith O'Brien Edinburgh, United Kingdom, Mar 13, 2009 / 01:49 am (CNA).- The Scottish Government is drawing criticism for saying that the results of an official investigation into the effects of homosexual adoption in Scotland will not be made public. The announcement comes soon after Cardinal Keith O’Brien urged the government to promote adoption rather than permit same-sex couples to foster children.In 2006 the Scottish Government passed laws allowing same-sex couples to adopt. The government is now working to permit same-sex couples to become foster parents.Scottish Ministers began an investigation...

"Now they say Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was too pretty!!It was okay for them to talk about what a hunk Obama was, with his abs and swimsuit in Hawaii. Being good looking helped him. It was a good thing...He was smart AND good looking! Amazing...And what about the younger and more fit Billy Bob Clinton? Remember all the stories about how women thought he was so good looking? We were told he had strong support from women voters because he was handsome...So, for guys it is okay to be good looking and talk about it." Now we're supposed to believe...

Report co-author Rachel Benson Gold called the family planning program "smart government at its best," asserting that every dollar spent on it saves taxpayers $4 in costs associated with unintended births to mothers eligible for Medicaid-funded natal care.

WASHINGTON – A classified Pentagon report urges President Barack Obama to shift U.S. military strategy in Afghanistan, de-emphasizing democracy-building and concentrating more on targeting Taliban and al-Qaida sanctuaries inside Pakistan with the aid of Pakistani military forces. -- A senior defense official said Tuesday that it will likely take several weeks before the Obama administration rolls out its long-term strategy for Afghanistan.

ScienceDaily (Nov. 21, 2008) — Non-white medical students are more likely to embrace orthodox medicine and reject therapies traditionally associated with their cultures. That is one finding from an international study that measures the attitudes of medical students toward complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). While seemingly counter-intuitive, white students view CAM more favorably than their non-white counterparts, the study authors say.CAM is the common, collective term that describes non-orthodox therapies considered not intrinsic to the politically dominant health system of a particular society or culture.Despite the growing popularity of CAM, many medical schools do not include CAM teachings within basic...

Scientists angry after feds ax forest studyThe government wanted to see how forests responded to carbon dioxide. By Jeff Barnard The Associated Press Published on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 DURHAM — For more than a decade, the federal government has spent millions of dollars pumping elevated levels of carbon dioxide into small groups of trees to test how forests will respond to global warming in the next 50 years. Some scientists believe they are on the cusp of receiving key results from the time-consuming experiments. The U.S. Department of Energy, however, which is funding the project, has told the scientists...

The author of the study, who writes a whole hell of a lot better than Michelle Obama (just don't want you to forget who our 1st Lady would be if Barry wins), seems to suggest a racist element among the increased white turnout. She also notes, in passing, that black candidates are among the most liberal in the country, which I think is largely the reason for the increased white turnout. More . . .

Researchers from three universities worked on the project and have said Obama has produced vague proposals compared to other candidates. U.S. and Canadian researchers say voters respond to Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Barack Obama's abstract notions of hope, change and judgment. Hakkyun Kim of Concordia University, Akshay Rao of the University of Minnesota and Angela Lee of Northwestern University said that while Obama was providing abstract messages, rivals Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and other candidates presented detailed, concrete proposals on many topics, which did not resonate as well. The researchers said Obama's reliance on lofty rhetoric succeeded thus far, because...

Unregulated gun shows decrease homicide rates, according to results of a study announced Wednesday by the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. The study, which compares gun shows that are heavily regulated to prevent private sales of firearms without government permission in California, with gun shows in Texas, where private sellers are freely able to transfer firearms. In heavily regulated California, no effect on homicides or suicides was found, except that about four suicides per year changed the method of suicide to firearms from something else. In Texas, the study found that the availability of gun...

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia is in the grip of a "man drought" where women increasingly outnumber men and a good bachelor is hard to find, according to new research from a leading demographer. From its founding as a British penal colony more than 200 years ago, Australia has traditionally suffered from a gender imbalance where men were more likely to be more numerous than the fairer sex Down Under. But what was once an oversupply of testosterone began to move in the other direction in the 1990s, and single women in their thirties are beginning to wonder where all the...

A noted child and family psychologist says spanking a child can be an effective form of discipline, despite a recent study that states otherwise. A new report titled "A Violent Education: Corporal Punishment of Children in U.S. Public Schools" shows that more than 200,000 children received corporal punishment in U.S. schools. Texas accounted for the majority of the cases, although 21 U.S. states allow the use of corporal punishment. The study was conducted by Humans Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union. According to a Reuters article on the study, "liberal groups regard corporal punishment as a barbaric relic...

GOD'S REMEMBRANCE OF "BABYLON THE GREAT." Revelation 16:19; 18:5. In the twenty-fifth chapter of Jeremiah's prophecy there occurs a remarkable prediction of which no account is taken in the various handbooks that have lately been issued, but which has a most important bearing upon dispensational changes that now seem to be pending. The verses are the 15th and 16th: "Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel unto me; Take the cup of the wine of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. And they shall drink, and reel...

Alarming numbers of children feel safer in the street when carrying knives or guns, Government inspectors warned today. A top-level report found that many children were still "very worried" about being bullied and were afraid of being on their own in public areas.

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Another study suggests Planned Parenthood is at fault in the deaths of women in the United States from the abortion drug RU 486. The abortion business had been telling women to use the drug in a different way than the FDA guidelines suggested and the study shows it contributed to the deaths. So far, eight women have died from the use of the abortion drug, including a rash of women going to Planned Parenthood abortion centers in California. Planned Parenthood had been telling women to use the abortion drug vaginally, even though the FDA indicated oral...

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Unlucky for some? Dutch statisticians have established that Friday 13th, a date regarded in many countries as inauspicious, is actually safer than an average Friday. A study published on Thursday by the Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics (CVS) showed that fewer accidents and reports of fire and theft occur when the 13th of the month falls on a Friday than on other Fridays. "I find it hard to believe that it is because people are preventatively more careful or just stay home, but statistically speaking, driving is a little bit safer on Friday 13th," CVS statistician Alex...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Beware: Puttering around on golf carts can be hazardous to your health. Those little vehicles that lurch and buzz past fairways and greens — and increasingly down suburban streets — might be a cost-saving alternative to gas-guzzling SUVs and cars. But a pair of studies released this week suggests they do have their risks. The research found that over a four-year period, nearly 50,000 people were hurt in accidents involving golf carts. One of the studies, by the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said about 1,000 Americans are hurt on golf carts every month. Males aged 10...

GENEVA (AFP) - It doesn't pay to be smart and ignorance really is bliss if you want a long life -- at least if you're a fly, according to new research by a Swiss university. Scientists Tadeusz Kawecki and Joep Burger at the University of Lausanne said Wednesday they had discovered a "negative correlation between an improvement in a fly's mental capacity and its longevity". As part of their research project, the results of which are published in the journal Evolution, they divided into two a group of flies from the Basel region of northwestern Switzerland. One half was left...

ISG moves from consensus to conflictBy DANIEL LIBIT 4/22/08 4:32 AM EST In December 2006, in an effort to build a national consensus on a “new way forward in Iraq,” the Iraq Study Group painted itself as a portrait of bipartisan chumminess, with all political hackery checked at the door. Sixteen months later, seven of the 10 ISG members are backing presidential candidates with radically different views about how to proceed in Iraq. Republicans James Baker, Lawrence Eagleburger and Ed Meese are supporting Sen. John McCain, who argues that the United States should be sending more troops to Iraq. Democrats...

NEW YORK - Newspaper readers agree with editors on the basics of what makes good journalism, but they are more apt to want looser rules for online conversations, a new study on news credibility has found. Newspapers highly discourage anonymous remarks, for instance, and editors are more likely than readers to want that principle applied to reader comments online, according to the Online Journalism Credibility Study released Tuesday by the Associated Press Managing Editors group and the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri. Some 70 percent of editors surveyed said requiring commenters to disclose their identities...

Increased Knowledge About Global Warming Leads To Apathy, Study Shows ScienceDaily (Mar. 28, 2008) — The more you know the less you care -- at least that seems to be the case with global warming. A telephone survey of 1,093 Americans by two Texas A&M University political scientists and a former colleague indicates that trend, as explained in their recent article in the peer-reviewed journal Risk Analysis. "More informed respondents both feel less personally responsible for global warming, and also show less concern for global warming," states the article, titled "Personal Efficacy, the Information Environment, and Attitudes toward Global Warming...

Most anti-terrorist spending is wasteful, claims a new study AFTER September 11th 2001, most countries beefed up security at airports and other vulnerable places. Tough-looking immigration officials no doubt made passengers feel safer, offsetting the irritation of longer queues. Yet doing something because it makes people feel good is not adequate justification. Is money devoted to counter-terrorism well spent? What claims to be the first serious study of its costs and benefits, by economists at the Universities of Texas at Dallas and Alabama*, says no. It was commissioned by the Copenhagen Consensus, a think-tank that aims to scrutinise public spending...

Driving down to Austin lately has become a real trip. I-35 is usually packed for most of the 185 miles, and what used to take three or four hours now can take five or six. Flying down can take almost as long, when you figure in airline security delays, more flight delays, and the time it takes getting into and out of crowded airports. But what if it took 45 minutes to travel from the Metroplex to Austin by train or an hour to make a trip to Houston? Advocates of high-speed rail lines are floating these ideas once again...

Aromatherapy May Make You Feel Good, But It Won't Make You Well, Study ShowsOne of the most comprehensive investigations done to date on aromatherapy failed to show any improvement in either immune status, wound healing or pain control among people exposed to two often-touted scents. (Credit: iStockphoto/Liv Friis-Larsen) ScienceDaily (Mar. 4, 2008) — One of the most comprehensive investigations done to date on aromatherapy failed to show any improvement in either immune status, wound healing or pain control among people exposed to two often-touted scents. While one of two popular aromas touted by alternative medicine practitioners – lemon – did...

Richard Lardner wrote an article for the AP (source link WashPo) about a "study" that was done evaluating the problems with getting Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles to the Marines: Study: Lack of MRAPs Cost Marine Lives By RICHARD LARDNERThe Associated PressFriday, February 15, 2008; 10:53 PM WASHINGTON -- Hundreds of U.S. Marines have been killed or injured by roadside bombs in Iraq because Marine Corps bureaucrats refused an urgent request in 2005 from battlefield commanders for blast-resistant vehicles, an internal military study concludes. The study, written by a civilian Marine Corps official and obtained by The Associated Press, accuses...