Another Study Says Antidepressants cause Violent Behavior

Regular readers might remember a post I did awhile back on antidepressants and how they've been shown to increase suicidal behavior. Today brings news of a new study (to be published in the Public Library of Science) that shows that the drug Paxil causes an increase in violent behavior over placebo. In the study, users of Paxil were twice as likely to have a violent episode than people who were given placebo. Unfortunately, it's the rest of society that has to pay for these violent outbursts.

Meteorology is the New Astrology

I'm not sure when it happened, or if it's always been this way, but meteorology is now resorting to cold reading techniques like those used in astrology, palm reading and lie detector tests. After issuing dire warnings about the 2006 hurricane season (and scaring the crap out of everyone within 200 miles of a coast) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has quietly "revised" their prediction.

This of course, calls into question the value of a prediction that is constantly 'revised' to reflect the current reality. Now NOAA is saying that the hurricane season won't be that bad after all, however they made sure to throw a "but hey, watch your back!" comment just to cover them in case there's a Katrina Part II ("...we are not off the hook by any means").

So here's my "horoscope" reading of the 2006 hurricane season:

It will be a mild year for Hurricanes, but watch for the full moon! It can cause unpredictable results. September's rain will bring about a tempest in a teacup, and New Orleans will breathe a sigh of relief when the sun shines on Bourbon Street.

New WiFi virus?

Yesterday I was at a conference and pulled out my laptop to see if the building had any free wireless available. There was one, with an SSID of "Free public wifi" I tried to connect, then noticed that it was a peer-to peer wireless network. I thought that was odd...and it didn't work anyway. I closed my laptop and forgot about it. Then tonight, my girlfriend and I are both on the couch using our laptops with my wireless router and low and behold, the SSID "Free Public wifi" shows up again on both of our machines, with a very strong signal. This made me a bit concerned. It was the same SSID I had seen earlier, and was (on both machines) a peer-to-peer connection type. My machine automatically connected (for some reason my router dropped its connection at this time) to the "free public wifi". I disconnected it and after getting my router back up and running, did some research. Turns out there are a few other people who have noticed this same phenomenon. Also today, this story came out. Odd coincidence, or are we about to see a wildfire of wifi viruses?

Is this a new virus that's infecting machines via wireless connections? If so, this might be ugly. Let me know if you've seen anything like this, or if you know what this is.

A Greater Evil Than.....Evil

There are only a few things I really hate in the world and few of those rank up there with valet parking. I know many people just love it. You don't have to worry about finding a parking spot in a crowded area, etc. That's a nice thing, I agree. But the part I hate is what you have to do to get that convenience.

Primarily, you have to give your keys to a complete stranger, who very easily could have a lengthy (violent?) criminal record. Not only that, but if anything happens to your car, they're not responsible (they tell you that on the ticket). So you pay a psychopath $20 to park your car, which may be scratched, wrecked, stolen, have its spare tire stolen (yeah...make sure you check that, especially if you have a nice rim on the spare...trust me...it happens) etc...and it's your fault. Or even worse, you could have the valet make a copy of your keys, then break into your house, set up hidden video cameras then hide under your bed for two days. Sound crazy? Well, That's exactly what happened to this poor woman.

Why on earth would you give a complete stranger your keys!??? OH YEAH! They're a "valet". Dumb....but everybody's doing it.

Here's an idea for all those stolen laptops with 'sensitive info'

Go to this site, read and understand. It's freaking free people!!! It would stop all of this concern with stolen laptops/data. You can even carry it along with you on a flash drive.

Nelson Mandella says the blood diamond has been washed

Apparently, according to Nelson Mandela, you are free to buy African diamonds again. It's best not to ask about the fat check he's getting from De Beers via the PR firm Sitrick and Company.

Another day, Another reason not to use debit cards

As I mentioned earlier, there are lots of reasons not to use debit cards. Today, Visa mentioned that thousands of customers might be at risk due to a "data breach", whatever that is.

I think it's going to take some hacker buying $30,000 worth of pencils with every senator and congressman's credit card before anyone in Washington pays attention.

Awww yeah. I called it (Chinese Urban Legend)

It turns out the "pregnant" Chinese woman was in fact a prank.  Quoting the China Daily:

"As people are widely concerned about the health of Qiao Yubo and her five babies in her phenomenally big belly, the super pregnant woman confessed Wednesday to the local reporters and doctors that the whole thing was made up. Qiao Yubo, an ordinary woman in Ningjiang District of Songyuan city, northeast China's Jilin Province, has been put into the spotlight since Jilin News' report on her quintuplets and 175-centimeter waistline earlier this week. However, when a hospital in the capital city of Changchun offered a free medical check-up, the woman and her husband taken flee from a window, thus unfolding the true story behind, reported Jinlin News. When the doctors finally found her in a washing room in her sister's house, Qiao knelt down, cried out, and told them she was not carrying quintuplets, Mr Li, chief of the hospital, told the newspaper." 

Here's my favorite part:

"Surprisingly enough, even Qiao's husband had no idea Qiao was having a fake belly until the arrival of the hospital staff, and he was the first to inform of media of the quintuplets. I was thinking I could not afford five babies, so I hoped the media exposure would arouse the society's attention and some people might give a helping hand." the paper quoted her husband as saying."

Bah....wait until he finds out "she" is a man.

Chinese urban legend?

Maybe it's just me, but this looks totally fake.

"Doctors" discover new Disease; Shareholders Applaud.

All of the sudden the news is filled with stories about Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED - and no, that's apparently not an incredibly ironic pun). And how, OMG, 7.3% of all adults have it. Basically IED means you lose your temper. And guess what? They have a solution all ready for you. The shareholders are applauding. This has to be the most ridiculous thing I've read in a long time (Oh man, I'm about to go "IED" on you). The 'not a magic bullet' quick-fix is SSRIs which have been shown to cause suicidal behavior and thinking in teens. The answer to your problems is that you're not taking enough pills.

06/06/06 - The Number of the Stupid News Story

It's annoying enough to see all these people talking about today being "the number of the beast" day. But it's so much more annoying when you realize that people are going way out of their way to create this number so they can talk about it.

Today is not 6/6/6. That date passed us 2,000 years ago and under our current calendar system , IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN! Sorry to disappoint you. But you've missed 6/6/6. It was a long time ago. And it wasn't the end of the world. Hmmmm...or was it? [queue Twilight Zone music].

Today is 6/6/2006. By truncating the 2006-->06, we will conveniently have 6/6/06 every 100 years. 2006 is not 6. And if you think it is, let me give you $6 and you give me $2,006 and we'll all be happy. Next time around it will be 6/6/2106....which will be shorted to 6/6/06 and again, we'll deal with all this inane news coverage.

While we're truncating/converting numbers, lets just express the date in binary form...that way we'll never run into this scary number again. Today's date is: 110/110 /11111010110 Whew! Don't you feel better now?? Don't you??

Why Do We Keep Building Monsters?

This week brought another tragic violent suicidal outburst by a mentally ill teen. But far from being just another odd, sensless and tragic event, this shooting may add another data point to a trend many have been warning about for years. It is a trend that is comprised of several seemingly random shootings by teens, including (but not limited to) the following:

Columbine High School Shooting

Bishop Neumann High School shooting

Granite Hills High School shooting

Red Lake Shootings High School shootings

Thurston High School Shootings

The connection? All of the shooters were on SSRI anti-depressants. It’s possible the shooters in other mass shootings were also on anti-depressants but in many of these cases, the medical records of the shooters have been sealed.

At first, this connection might seem coincidental. Until you consider that in In 2000, the FDA issued a “black box” warning on SSRI anti-depressants. The warning states that ANTI-DEPRESSANTS INCREASE THE RISK OF SUICIDAL THOUGHTS AND BEHAVIORS! Yes, you read that right. In at least (24) different short term studies, children and adolescents who were given SSRIs for depression, OCD, or other ‘psychiatric disorders” had an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

And today, in an oddly coincidental story, the FDA warned that Paxil (another SSRI) ...may raise the risk of suicidal behavior in young adults.”

It is estimated that 20-30 million prescriptions are written each year for SSRIs in the United States alone. Keep in mind, a study in the International Journal Neuropsychopharmacology [September 2002;5(3):193-7] showed that placebos, i.e. “sugar pills” were slightly MORE EFFECTIVE in treating depression than SSRIs! This study reviewed 53 clinical trials comprised of 10,030 patients, so the results should cause one to question how much these drugs help.

We are quite literally gambling with the long term mental health of children and adolescents when we put them on psychotropic drugs. Don’t be fooled. The medical community barely understands the effects of SSRIs much less the long term consequences of modifying essential brain chemistry.

Coffee Is (Still) Good For Women Too

So says a new study just published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. They theorize that coffee, a major source of dietary antioxidants, reduces inflammation that leads to cardiovascular diseases. I'll have a latte to that.

Mexico Got A Call From Uncle Sam

LoL....just like I said. Now Presidente Fox isn't going to sign the legislation. Wonder if mexico has figured it out yet?

Mexico Mistakenly Believes it's a Sovereign Nation

Silly Mexico. They've apparently convinced themselves they can pass laws without first getting the approval of Uncle Sam. The media is reporting that Mexico is going to decriminalize marijuana, cocaine and heroin (among other drugs). Lets see how far this gets. Canada tried the same thing just a month ago. The US expressed its displeasure and threated to retaliate and oh, wouldn't you know it, the legislation was quickly done away with. I guess NAFTA only goes so far.

The FDA Knows No Shame

So who is the FDA working for these days? I’ll give you a hint: It’s not you

What happens when it comes to the public’s attention (10 years after the FDA is made aware) that some products from multi-million dollar food product firms (soft drinks) contain high levels of a cancer causing chemical which has been directly linked to leukemia and known as the mother of all carcinogens ?? Well, if you’re the FDA, you tell everyone that benzene isn’t really dangerous. Even though the products in question contain levels of benzene that are FOUR TIMES HIGHER than what you’ve previously stated was the maximum allowed in drinking water!

I had to chuckle at the Washington Post’s headline “Soda Safe Despite Benzene: FDA: Chemical Present in Diet Soda, but Not Harmful” Just read that statement a few times, and you’ll come to understand just how bought and paid for the FDA really is. But the “big lie” routine was not what the FDA tired at first. No, first they tired to conceal the fact. They’ve know about this non-issue for 13 years. They first said that there was some…but oh, just a tiny- tiny bit of benzene in a few soft drinks (which they refused to name), but that it was not worth worrying about. Just last week the FDA stated that the levels of benzene found were “insignificant”. Now, after the publication of a report that showed the FDA’s own studies “.. found benzene at four times the tap-water limit, on average, in 19 of 24 samples of diet soda”, the FDA is claiming their studies “overestimated the amount of benzene”.

In the mean time, Great Britain's public health agency pulled some soft drinks off the shelf due to benzene contamination . But not the FDA. The FDA claims their own studies prove the benzene levels are safe (is their safe level of benzene the same as yours ?), but just don’t ask to see the data. That’s because they’re not releasing it yet. I’m sure they’re still looking for ways to spin the results.

It is suspected that the benzene is being created by a reaction between sodium or potassium benzoate and ascorbic acid (vitamin C). I say, just avoid the benzoate all together until this and the class actions get sorted out.

The Microwave In Your Lap

Much concern has been raised about the carcinogenic potential of mobile phones. People go so far as to purchase ferrite beads to help clamp any radiation coming from mobile phone headset cords. To be sure, the jury is still out on mobile phone radiation. The fact that they operate at a frequency close to microwaves and are placed so close to a person’s head is the primary reason the alarm has been raised. In light of the new mobile phone/cancer studies, the FDA says it will begin new investigations……Heh, ah…yeah right. Everything the FDA does at this point should be considered corrupt until proven otherwise. But on to the point of this post. Scary microwave ovens operate at 2.45 GHz. Modern mobile phones operate at 2.4 Ghz……And so does your wireless router and Wi-Fi card.

I'm a big fan of Mercola's health blog. But, he frequently touts the benefits of Wi-Fi systems, while at the same time sells the ferrite beads mentioned above. This seems to be a contradiction to me. Hasn’t anyone connected the dots to see that if mobile phones are dangerous, then Wi-Fi is also potentially dangerous? In fact, I would bet that many people are exposed to Wi-Fi radiation for 7-10 hours per day. Much more than normal mobile phone usage. Does your office have a wireless network? Does your laptop or desktop have wireless capability turned on? If so, you’re being showered in 2.4GHz radiation and there’s probably not much you can do about it. All these people with these dorky Bluetooth headsets are probably clueless to the fact that it operates at 2.497 GHz and is placed right up against their heads. I wonder how many people bought one of these things to make their cell phone use safer? It’s true they are very low powered, but still…why not go with a wired headset if you’re clearly not concerned with looking stupid.

Link to Elise Beth Bassin's Thesis

Here's a Link to Elise Beth Bassin's thesis which 'broke the story' on the link between fluoridated water and osteoscarcoma.

Harvard Study says there IS a link between fluoridated water and cancer

This one seems to be buried, but guess what? A Harvard University study just published in their Journal, Cancer Causes and Control, says that boys who drink fluoridated water are FIVE TIMES MORE LIKELY TO GET A RARE BONE CANCER than boys who drink fluoridated water. The cancer, osteosarcoma is frequently fatal. This study confirms the findings of other studies by the National Institutes of Health as well as a study by the New Jersey Health Department.

The study's conclusion notes that:

Our exploratory analysis found an association between fluoride exposure in drinking water during childhood and the incidence of osteosarcoma among males but not consistently among females.

This study is different from another 'just published' study from the National Academy of Sciences that showed EPA limits for water fluoridation left water drinkers at an increased risk of dental fluorosis and bone fractures. That study has largely been brushed off because of the supposed benefits of fluoride. This study might be more problematic.

Looks like all those anti-fluoride people might not be nuts after all....

Is PC World reading the Pulpit?

PC World has put up an article on 101 freebies. You'll see they've recommended many of the same programs I have, and a few new ones I'll have to try out.