Good shopping in the big city, hope you find all on the list.
Spring is coming, honest it is.
You might even find a garage sale if you drove around a little.
Be safe.
My thanks to Milford421 for the tip on this recall..
http://www.empowher.com/news/2009/02/24/potato-items-pulled-store-shelves
Potato Items Pulled From Store Shelves
February 24, 2009 - 7:18am
Discover What’s New at EmpowHer
Several potato products that may be contaminated with listeria monocytogenes have been pulled from the shelves of Giant Food and Stop & Shop supermarkets, the Associated Press reported.
The products are 20 oz. bags of Simply Potatoes Shredded Hash Browns, Simply Potatoes Homestyle Slices and Simply Potatoes Red Potato Wedges. The products, which have “use by” dates ranging from March 29 to April 3, 2009, were recalled by Northern Star Co., a subsidiary of food processor Michael Foods Inc.
Listeria monocytogenes bacteria can cause flu-like symptoms and can be especially dangerous for pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems.
No reports of illness or injuries related to the recalled potato products have been received by Quincy, Mass.-based Stop & Shop or by Landover, Md.-based Giant Food, the AP reported.
Customers who bought the products should throw out any unused portions and bring the receipts to their stores for a full refund, the companies said.
[How many of these games would the kids play, in an emergency??? granny]
Computer Games for Fun and Learning,
On screen Games -
~ Is Hedgie the Best?
http://www.janbrett.com/hedgies_the_best.htm
~ Hedgie’s Alphabet Game
http://www.janbrett.com/games/hedgies_alphabet_game/intro.html
~ Interactive Coloring Pages
http://www.janbrett.com/coloring_aplet_new/Color.html
~ Mouse Concentration
http://www.janbrett.com/piggybacks/mouse_concentration.htm
~ Hedgie’s Book a matic
http://www.janbrett.com/bookamatic/hedgies_book_a_matic.htm
~ Name the African Animals
http://www.janbrett.com/games/botswana_animals_game.htm
~ Decorate a Jan Brett Gingerbread Bouse
http://www.janbrett.com/trim_a_jan_brett_gingerbread_baby_house.htm
Printable Games -
~ Dolch Word Sight List
http://www.janbrett.com/games/jan_brett_dolch_word_list_main.htm
~ Dolch Word Sight List Flash Cards
http://www.janbrett.com/games/flash_card_dolch_word_list_main.htm
~ Flash Cards Colors
http://www.janbrett.com/games/colors_main.htm
~ Flash Cards Shapes
www.janbrett.com/games/geometric_shapes_main.htm
~ Flash Cards 3D Shapes
http://www.janbrett.com/games/3d_shapes_main.htm
~ Flash Card Phonograms
http://www.janbrett.com/phonograms/phonogram_fc_main.htm
~ Addition Flash Cards
http://www.janbrett.com/games/addition_flash_cards_main.htm
~ Subtraction Flash Cards
http://www.janbrett.com/games/subtraction_flash_cards_main.htm
~ Multiplication Flash Cards
http://www.janbrett.com/games/multiplication_flash_cards_main.htm
~ Division Flash Cards
http://www.janbrett.com/games/division_flash_cards_main.htm
~ The Umbrella Maze
http://www.janbrett.com/games/umbrella_maze_game.htm
~ Numbers a Words Puzzle
http://www.janbrett.com/games/matching_words_numbers.htm
~ Matching Numbers Game
http://www.janbrett.com/games/matching_numbers_game_main_page.htm
~ Matching Animals Game
http://www.janbrett.com/games/matching_animals_game_main.htm
~ Gingerbread Baby Board Game
http://www.janbrett.com/games/gingerbread_baby_board_game.htm
~ Addition and Subtraction Puzzles
http://www.janbrett.com/games/janbretts_addition_and_subtraction_main.htm
It’s a pleasure to be in touch.
Sincerely,
Jan Brett
Download a Free Jan Brett How to Draw Video -
http://janbrett.com/video/video_main_page.htm
Read all about Jan Brett’s books and get the best
bookstore prices -
http://www.janbrett.com/bookstores/hedgies_lets_go_shopping.htm
This message was sent by Jan Brett,
Post Office Box 366,
Norwell, Ma, 02061
Remember the article on contaminated heroin, it is amazing what they have put in it.
[For years, I have studied this communist plan, it is how they manage a country and now I wonder what is in store for us?
They did this to several countries, the stories are horrendous,
the real citizens are moved out and Russians move in, then when they say they are having an election and the citizens voted for the communist plan, it is true, the Russians did.
We have seen the ‘moved in’ crowd here already, what next?
Obama is following the Venezuela plan now, what next?
granny]
AKHMED ZAKAEV IN THE SEMINAR “CHECHNYA: THE FORGOTTEN WAR” AT ROYAL
SOCIETY OF ARTS, LONDON
February, 19th 2009.
World Chechnya Day.
Monday marks one of the bloodiest and most brutal pages in the whole
history of Russo-Chechen relations. On that day, 65 years ago, the whole
Chechen nation of half a million people was exiled from their home land
and deported to Central Asia and Kazakhstan - indeed my own family were
among them.
As is well documented the pain of the losses that Chechens suffered in
that distant past did not become the last pain they were to encounter,
and sadly the struggle continues into our tragic present. It is true
that the tactics deployed by the Kremlin today are more subtle, but the
outcome is the same in that the displacement and persecution of Chechens
continues via methods that are less obvious but equally as brutal.
On that day, in a cold February morning of 1944, several hundred
thousands of Chechens were being loaded into cattle trains to be
transported to the far away steppes of Kazakhstan . That was a scary
road to nowhere.
Only one half of the nation would reach the destination, the rest would
be left lying along the rails, the road of Death, sprinkled with snow.
Tens of thousands were shot or burnt to death because there was no way
to transport them.
A horrible reminder of those days is a village called Haibach, the whole
population of which, 700 people in all, was burnt alive.
In the thirteen years of deportation hundreds of thousands of elderly,
women and children died in a strange land. Such was a result of the
claim that the whole Chechen nation was a traitor to the Russian
Communist regime.
Thousands of broken lives, never-ending tears of families, hundreds of
thousands of nameless graves in the steppes of Central Asia and Kazakhstan.
On January 26, 2004 the European Union officially recognised the
deportation of the Chechen people as an act of genocide.
Grave crimes were committed against defenceless old people, women and
children. Hundreds of thousands dead, mass extra-judicial executions,
torture in concentration camps, abductions and disappearances of people,
kidnappings and the list goes on.
Today Russia continues to violate international law on human rights and
does everything in its power to stifle Chechnya’s legitimate claim for
independence. Claims that peace and stability has returned to the region
are just a guise to legitimize occupant’s regime of fear and oppression.
When I reflect on what happened 65 years ago, the brutality of war and
struggle of the Chechen people that continues, I still believe that the
law and historical justice are on the side of the Chechen nation. They
just have to be.
The violence and blood that Russia spills at home and abroad
demonstrates its disregard for moral and legal responsibilities in full
view of the international community. What deeply saddens and frustrates
me is the lack of political will to do something about it. I am deeply
convinced that economic interests of certain countries and political
careers of certain politicians should not be seen as more important than
the fate of a million people nation. More than 250 thousand of innocent
victims amongst the civilians, 40 thousand of them children, serve as a
sufficient ground to initiate a war tribunal against Russian war
criminals. The fact that Russia owns nuclear weapons and can therefore
blackmail the international community should not prevent us from
bringing Russian war criminals to trial.
I also think it is my duty to remind you that the illusions some
political circles have about Russia ’s democratic progress are fatally
dangerous for the whole mankind. Clearly, the world needs to find a way
to make Russia comply with the basic principles of human rights, freedom
of speech and the rule of law. It will be at your peril that the West
deludes itself into believing that they just do things differently.
The way Russia silences critics living on foreign soil is starkly
illustrated in the killing of the former ChRI President Zelimkhan
Yandarbiev; the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, the murder in Istambul
of the ChRI citizen Islam Djanibekov and most recently, the fatal
shooting in Vienna of Umar Israilov.
The ChRI Government, my Government, voices its strongest objection to
the European Union’s lack of a clearly defined position in relation to
the Russian Federation’ aggression against the Chechen Republic of
Ichkeriya, crimes against humanity and absence of an effective system to
protect the ChRI citizens who have found asylum in European countries.
We are counting on the Austrian authorities who had offered political
asylum to Umar Ismailov and his family and who guaranteed his security
while resident on the Austrian soil, to do everything they can to bring
to justice both the perpetrators of this crime and their paymasters,
whoever they might be.
Despite this bleak backdrop I remain an optimist that things can change
– there really is no alternative. We need to bring about a new dialogue
with Russia and begin a more constructive phase in relations to build
stability in the whole of the Caucasus. And as for Chechnya
specifically, my own view is that Peace and human rights can only be
achieved if the Chechen’s right to self-determination is recognised
through free and fair elections.
I would like to leave you with one final thought. This week is a year
since Kosovo was granted independence. There has been no regional
destabilization as many predicted which shows that a small independent
state can viably survive in modern Europe . I invite you to draw your
own conclusions on what can be achieved if the political will exists.
Thank you.
http://www.chechenpress.co.uk/content/2009/02/23/main02.shtml
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chechnya-sl/
HYPERLINK http://www.upi.com/Emerging_Threats/2009/02/24/UPI-19791235520517/
http://www.upi.com/Emerging_Threats/2009/02/24/UPI-19791235520517/
DHS has plan if Mexican drug violence spills over border
By SHAUN WATERMAN
UPI Homeland and National Security Editor
snipped from article, which you should read.
Former White House drug czar John P. Walters told UPI some tactics may have been copied from Islamic terror groups. “The sequence and timing is suggestive,” he said, pointing out the Mexican cartels had adopted the practice of circulating and posting videos of murders and torture after the tactic had been used by terror groups in the Middle East.
continued.
Adobe Releases Security Bulletin for Flash Player
Original release date: February 25, 2009 at 9:54 am
Last revised: February 25, 2009 at 9:54 am
Adobe has released Security Bulletin APSB09-01 to address multiple
vulnerabilities in Flash Player. These vulnerabilities may allow an
attacker to execute arbitrary code, cause a denial of service
condition, conduct Clickjacking attacks, or operate with escalated
privileges.
US-CERT encourages users to review Adobe Security Bulletin APSB09-01
and upgrade to Flash Player 10.0.22.87 to help mitigate the risks.
Relevant Url(s):
http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb09-01.html
BABESIOSIS, BLOOD TRANSFUSION - USA: (NEW YORK CITY) RISK ADVISORY
******************************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org
Date: Mon 23 Feb 2009 18:07:28 -0500
Source: New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene [edited]
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/cd/2009/09md05.pdf
Increase in transfusion-associated babesiosis in New York City
The NYC Health Department is asking providers to consider babesiosis
in the differential diagnosis of patients with fever and/or hemolytic
anemia who have a history of transfusion or organ transplant within
the preceding 3 months; Suspected cases should be tested for
babesiosis (see below for details), and laboratory positive cases
should be reported to the NYC Health Department as well as the New
York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) Blood and Tissue Resources
Program (see contact information below).
Reported cases of transfusion-associated babesiosis among New Yorkers
have increased during the previous 6 months. In the past, an average
of 1-2 reports of transfusion-associated babesiosis was received by
the Department annually; since September 2008, 7 cases have been
identified. Patients receiving transfusions often have underlying
illnesses, including immunosuppressive conditions, and providers may
not suspect babesiosis, especially during winter months when travel
to endemic areas is less common.
This alert reminds providers to consider babesiosis in the
differential diagnosis for patients with febrile illnesses and/or
hemolytic anemia who have received blood components or transplanted
organs in the preceding 3 months.
Babesiosis is a rare, sometimes severe or fatal tick-borne disease
caused by _Babesia microti_, a parasite that infects red blood cells.
Symptoms occur most frequently in elderly, asplenic, or
immunocompromised individuals and may include fever, hemolytic
anemia, thrombocytopenia, diarrhea, acute renal failure, DIC
[disseminated intravascular coagulation] and ARDS [acute respiratory
distress syndrome]. In healthy hosts, infection is often
asymptomatic, or causes mild illness with fever, headache, myalgia,
and malaise. Untreated infections can persist for up to a year or
longer.
Naturally acquired _Babesia_ is transmitted by infected _Ixodes
scapularis_, or blacklegged ticks, which are also known to transmit
_Borrelia burgdorferi_ (Lyme disease) and _Anaplasma phagocytophilum_
(anaplasmosis). The blacklegged tick is only rarely found in NYC;
however it is present in nearly all areas surrounding the City.
Highly endemic areas for _Babesia microti_ near NYC include Long
Island (especially Fire and Shelter Islands), Connecticut, New
Jersey, and Massachusetts. Transmission risk is greatest during
spring and summer, when nymphal ticks are abundant.
The number of cases of babesiosis reported among NYC residents has
gradually risen since 1989 when 2 cases were reported. This trend has
been seen in the surrounding region as well. This may in part explain
the increased number of transfusion-associated cases. In 2002, 16
cases were reported, and provisional data for 2008 has 39 cases
reported to date, see Table 1).
Table 1. Reported cases of babesiosis in NYC 2002-2008
2002: 16
2003: 25
2004: 16
2005: 18
2006: 38
2007: 25
2008: 39
Transmission through blood transfusion can occur when blood
components collected from a parasitemic donor are transfused to a
susceptible recipient. To date, transmission has been reported only
with red blood cells (both fresh and frozen) and platelets.
According to the FDA, since 1979 over 80 cases of
transfusion-associated babesiosis have been reported in the US, the
majority of which occurred during the past decade. Currently, there
is no laboratory screening of the blood supply for evidence of
infection with _Babesia_. Donors are deferred if they have a fever at
the time of donation or report a history of _Babesia_ infection, but
this practice alone is unable to prevent asymptomatic individuals
with low levels of parasitemia from serving as donors.
Clinicians in NYC should consider transfusion-associated babesiosis
in any patient presenting with unexplained febrile illness and/or
hemolytic anemia who received blood components or organ
transplantation in the preceding 3 months. The incubation period for
tick-associated babesiosis can range from 1 to 4 weeks; for
transfusion-associated babesiosis, 2 to 9 weeks.
Diagnosis can be made by identifying ring forms (which closely
resemble _Plasmodium falciparum_) and tetrad forms within red blood
cells on a Giemsa or Wright stained blood smear. Babesia polymerase
chain reaction (PCR) and serologic tests are available commercially
to assist with the diagnosis. Confirmatory testing, including review
of blood smears and submission to NYS for PCR, if deemed necessary,
is available through the NYC Public Health Laboratory. A request form
must be completed for specimen submissions. For more information,
call the Parasitology Laboratory at (212) 447-2972 during business
hours. Forms can be found online at
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/labs/labs_forms.shtml
Treatment is generally not recommended for asymptomatic or mild
self-limiting infections. For patients in whom illness is more
severe, combination drug therapy has been successful. While the
combination of clindamycin and quinine for 7 days was used
historically, side effects including tinnitus and gastroenteritis can
be problematic. More recently, the combination of atovaquone and
azithromycin has been favored as this regimen is equally effective
and results in fewer side effects.
In rare instances, an exchange transfusion may be indicated. For
additional information on treatment options, refer to the Medical
Letter, Drugs for Parasitic Infections. See
http://www.dpd.cdc.gov/dpdx/HTML/PDF_Files/MedLetter/Babesiosis.pdf.
Additional information is available on the DOHMH website at
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/cd/cdbab.shtml
or the CDC website
at
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/babesia/default.htm
Please call the Bureau of Communicable Disease at 212-788-9830 with
any questions regarding testing, diagnosis, reporting, or management
of suspected cases of babesiosis. Cases of transfusion-associated
babesiosis must also be reported to the NYSDOH Blood and Tissue
Resources Program at 518-485-5341. A report must also be made to your
hospital’s transfusion service so they can notify the blood center
that supplied the blood components.
Cases can be reported to the DOHMH by telephone (212-788-9830) or
facsimile transmission (212-788-4268) using the paper or electronic
Universal Reporting form (URF). The URF and instructions can be
obtained from your hospital’s Infection Control Practitioner or
downloaded from the DOHMH website at
http://home2.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/hcp/hcp-urf.shtml
Visit http://home2.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/hcp/hcp.shtml to join
NYC-MED in order to submit a URF online.
Please distribute to staff in the Departments of Internal Medicine,
Pediatrics, Family Medicine, Infection Control, Infectious Disease,
Emergency Medicine, Critical Care, Hematology/Oncology, Pharmacy,
Blood Bank and Laboratory Medicine.
[Sally Slavinski, DVM, MPH, ACVPM
Assistant Director
Annie Fine, MD
Medical Director
Zoonotic, Influenza and Vectorborne Disease Unit (ZIVDU)
Bureau of Communicable Disease
New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene]
—
ProMED-mail
promed@promedmail.org
[Transmission of _Babesia_ by blood transfusion has mainly been
reported form the United States (see the recent review by Gubernot
DM, et al: _Babesia_ infection through blood transfusions: reports
received by the US Food and Drug Administration, 1997-2007. Clin
Infect Dis. 2009; 48(1): 25-30; abstract available at
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19035776
Infection with _Babesia_ is often asymptomatic in the immunocompetent
human host and asymptomatic carriers must exist which makes
prevention very difficult. One study found babesia antibodies in 0.9
percent of blood donors in Connecticut, USA, and half of these
seropositive donors were parasite positive by PCR (Leiby DA et al:
Demonstrable parasitemia among Connecticut blood donors with
antibodies to _Babesia microti_. Transfusion. 2005; 45(11): 1804-10;
abstract available at
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16271108
- Mod.EP]
[New York City can be located on the HealthMap/ProMED-mail
interactive map at
http://healthmap.org/promed/en?g=5128581&v=40.714,-74.006,5
CopyEd.MJ]
[see also:
2000