Which Team Does Derek Jeter's Injury Hurt More? (I'm Serious!)

In the top of the 12th inning in tonight's game, Derek Jeter was going for a routine grounder to short that went to his left side. But he didn't get up. He ended up fracturing his left ankle, and his manager is reporting that Jeter is out for the rest of the postseason.<br /><br />Tigers fans might initially say, "Yess!!" Jeter is gone! We don't have to face him in the lineup! The gold-glove infield has a hole in it!<br /><br />But take a step back. Teams that lose their captain usually rally very well. They get behind the team. They regroup and strike back with a force previously unseen. And the Yankees aren't a sub-.500 team who might just collapse and give up the rest of the series. These guys won the Eastern Division and fought back to win a series against an upstart Orioles team. They aren't just going to roll over.<br /><br />I could easily see Alex Rodriguez suddenly be inspired to hit again...if Joe Girardi even puts him in the lineup in this series.<br /><br />But then again, the Tigers did not give up this game, like they could have. They brought in young pitching to fight through the extra innings, and Delmon Young continued his Yankee-killing ways. The Yankees are losing the one bat in the starting lineup that actually showed up for the ALDS, regardless of lingering leg injuries.<br /><br />I want to see how this game shapes up tomorrow. Tomorrow's game is <b>huge</b>, to gauge how the Yankees bounce back from the loss of Jeter and how the Tigers bounce back from a closer implosion. The three million Tigers fans out there, wherever you are, keep a positive outlook tomorrow. I think the Tigers are capable of taking tomorrow's game, but they can't let Jeter's injury spark the Yankees. They've got to stomp on that spark until it is completely out. That is most definitely sure.<br /><br />Oh - and Anibal Sanchez has to pitch a complete game. But that's just a given.

Which Team Does Derek Jeter's Injury Hurt More? (I'm Serious!)

In the top of the 12th inning in tonight's game, Derek Jeter was going for a routine grounder to short that went to his left side. But h...

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Man Babe of the Week

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Sometimes we just gotta balance things out and give something to the ladies here at IWS. So, in keeping with out <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid/2012/10/14/man-crush-show" target="_blank">Man Crush Show</a> this week, we decided to go with some of very popular Man Babes that a lot of people think are really swell ...<br /><br />Everyone loves James Bond so they must also love Daniel Craig ...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIrmIuMOKgtWlDKyyCBhirdmb7ns_NMkRJsDUOMflQEJNTBmYjdC-VLX8VoGcdoL3qumiu9cile-DTcch43qxvULiaXRKzibkHTyOGmispGeBeWtrlc5-J_hqxKUGt2ulBNip3Vj-NKDo/s1600/Daniel+Craig+Shirtless+Hot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIrmIuMOKgtWlDKyyCBhirdmb7ns_NMkRJsDUOMflQEJNTBmYjdC-VLX8VoGcdoL3qumiu9cile-DTcch43qxvULiaXRKzibkHTyOGmispGeBeWtrlc5-J_hqxKUGt2ulBNip3Vj-NKDo/s400/Daniel+Craig+Shirtless+Hot.jpg" width="142" /></a></div><br />Criminal Minds' Shemar Moore is probably the hottest dude on TV...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMrB3c-dgDzgoZ6ugy6o4V7jZj5g1FK4VKAeXS97Qi1RPq4X6aORfNtD9yvD8RBLDcdOaSNVaxAW3ytsW7Ee-y5dhU1evMtSKNZrqvU6oxCHtZArvoazLzALGOLIYwBkzsg9Kn8rqS7ww/s1600/Shemar-Moore-Shirless-Hot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMrB3c-dgDzgoZ6ugy6o4V7jZj5g1FK4VKAeXS97Qi1RPq4X6aORfNtD9yvD8RBLDcdOaSNVaxAW3ytsW7Ee-y5dhU1evMtSKNZrqvU6oxCHtZArvoazLzALGOLIYwBkzsg9Kn8rqS7ww/s320/Shemar-Moore-Shirless-Hot.jpg" width="248" /></a></div><br />Bradley Cooper is hot, funny and he speaks French!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnteGQ2A4RcJ9noTjD1yyOmlANahrOi41G7G6evJPHH2h4u_uePchPQsi3Gby3j_WE2nUFTjFSK-IPQRLo84fwxYex3yQ8LotDMgFhd2arMlUrg1bWi4PGKxw4Eqe4HbiBxhXD5niylpU/s1600/Bradley+Cooper+Shirtless+Nude.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnteGQ2A4RcJ9noTjD1yyOmlANahrOi41G7G6evJPHH2h4u_uePchPQsi3Gby3j_WE2nUFTjFSK-IPQRLo84fwxYex3yQ8LotDMgFhd2arMlUrg1bWi4PGKxw4Eqe4HbiBxhXD5niylpU/s320/Bradley+Cooper+Shirtless+Nude.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />Canning Tatum was a real live male stripper so you know he's freaking hawt...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1dN2OscvC_V_ZrL4qxSdNT2iW3MsscKBPYNeXLg5ihapSlC_BhERNMa9AHTBXTdiZKmydW1LNsO3hCQpeUoJ6GUsINRnFLzACXd_iche43j8GaUadERJrwQIrzSyrm9FUzVtceCHz97E/s1600/Channing+Tatum+Nude+Shirtless+Hot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1dN2OscvC_V_ZrL4qxSdNT2iW3MsscKBPYNeXLg5ihapSlC_BhERNMa9AHTBXTdiZKmydW1LNsO3hCQpeUoJ6GUsINRnFLzACXd_iche43j8GaUadERJrwQIrzSyrm9FUzVtceCHz97E/s320/Channing+Tatum+Nude+Shirtless+Hot.jpg" width="235" /></a></div><br />And everybody love Coach Taylor from Friday Night Lights played by DILF Kyle Chandler ...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Rj3owkGD-mZbqt2CISmJB3Hq8tYxP8m2uy14ikGhymd6PEOnzFc2GnrOf-J0UchT0LIJSNun1XdjFX6TCD9xmWvl2v9lbmQ40z86wemH6XendiLC9EmNJ1FP3whCZA9BsuhzvppM1k4/s1600/Kyle+Chandler+Shirtless+Hot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Rj3owkGD-mZbqt2CISmJB3Hq8tYxP8m2uy14ikGhymd6PEOnzFc2GnrOf-J0UchT0LIJSNun1XdjFX6TCD9xmWvl2v9lbmQ40z86wemH6XendiLC9EmNJ1FP3whCZA9BsuhzvppM1k4/s320/Kyle+Chandler+Shirtless+Hot.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br /></div>

Man Babe of the Week

Sometimes we just gotta balance things out and give something to the ladies here at IWS. So, in keeping with out Man Crush Show this week, ...

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Is the afterlife full of fluffy clouds and angels? - Telegraph

<base href="data:"><div style="text-align: left; "><div class="firstPar" style="color: rgb(40, 40, 40); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; ">Have you ever noticed that more people come back from Heaven than from Hell? We have all read those astonishing reports of near-death experiences (NDEs, as the aficionados call them) – the things that people say have happened to them when they almost, but don't quite, shuffle off the coil.</div></div><div class="secondPar" style="color: rgb(40, 40, 40); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; ">They are nearly always pleasant and deeply reassuring in a saccharin-soaked way. Lots of spinning down warm, dark tunnels to the sound of celestial music; lots of trips along country lanes lined with hedges, towards the light of a welcoming cottage at the end of the road; lots of tumbling down Alice-in-Wonderland rabbit holes, but without the damaging effects of gravity.</div></div><div class="thirdPar" style="color: rgb(40, 40, 40); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; ">True, Dr Maurice S Rawlings Jr, MD, heart surgeon in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and author of To Hell and Back, did have patients who reported very nasty NDEs after they came back on his operating table. Booming noises; licking flames and all that Mephistophelian stuff. But perhaps that tells us more about the challenges of living in Chattanooga, Tennessee, than about the metaphysics of life after death.</div></div><div class="fourthPar" style="color: rgb(40, 40, 40); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; ">Predictably, the amazingly consistent, remarkably heaven-like experiences recounted by the majority of NDE-ers (yes, that really is what the experts call them) have been summarily dismissed by materialist sceptics – like me. Of course the brain does funny things when it's running out of oxygen. The odd perceptions are just the consequences of confused activity in the temporal lobes.</div></div><div class="fifthPar" style="color: rgb(40, 40, 40); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; ">But NDEs have taken on a new cloak of respectability with a book by a Harvard doctor. Proof of Heaven, by Eben Alexander, will make your toes wiggle or curl, depending on your prejudices. What's special about his account of being dead is that he's a neurosurgeon. At least that's what the publicity is telling us. It's a cover story in <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/10/07/proof-of-heaven-a-doctor-s-experience-with-the-afterlife.html" style="color: rgb(35, 75, 123); outline: 0px; text-decoration: none; "><strong>Newsweek magazine, with a screaming headline: "Heaven is Real: a doctor's account of the afterlife"</strong></a>.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; ">Just as you'd expect from a doctor, his account is precise and detailed. In the autumn of 2008, he contracted a very rare bacterial meningitis that he says made his brain "shut down" and put his "higher-order brain functions totally offline". The soup-like state of Dr Alexander's brain was, he writes, "documented by CT scans" (although CT scans don't say anything about the activity of the brain) and "neurological examinations".</div></div><div class="body" style="color: rgb(40, 40, 40); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; ">Although the neurons of his cortex were "stunned to complete inactivity by the bacteria", his conscious self journeyed into another world. There was wonderful music and light. There were clouds, "big, puffy, pink-white ones that showed up sharply against the deep blue-black sky". And there were angels (well, perhaps birds): "flocks of transparent, shimmering beings".</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; ">But then it gets really weird. It turns out that he wasn't alone. "For most of my journey, someone was with me. A woman." She had a lovely face and golden brown tresses, and she was dressed appropriately for a Cecil B DeMille movie, in peasant costume, in subtle shades of "powder blue, indigo, and pastel orange-peach". She was quite a stunner. She looked at Dr Alexander "with a look that, if you saw it for five seconds, would make your whole life up to that point worth living, no matter what had happened in it so far". It was a look "beyond all the different compartments of love we have down here on earth".</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; ">Well, many of us, after a couple of pints in the pub with our chums, might say that we've had that kind of experience; but not with a woman flying on a butterfly wing, as Dr Alexander's companion was. Although he "still had little language function" he was able to chat with the peasant lady, asking (understandably) where he was and why he was there. He was overwhelmed by the answers, which "came instantly in an explosion of light, colour, love, and beauty that blew through me like a crashing wave".</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; ">After the clouds and the angels and the peasant lady, Dr Alexander went on to a "pitch-black" void, "brimming with light" from a "brilliant orb" that acted as an interpreter, explaining that the "universe itself was like a giant cosmic womb".</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; ">You might have sensed a subtle hint of scepticism in my account. As Eben Alexander says, he considers himself a faithful Christian, and it's therefore not surprising that he interpreted the chaos in his brain when he was almost dying in terms of his model of the afterlife.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; ">His, and the multitude of other memories reported by people who have been close to death, have to be seen first through the prism of hard science. The crucial question is not whether such astounding experiences should lead us to abandon materialist accounts of brain function, but whether materialist accounts can possibly explain them.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; ">Dr Peter Fenwick, senior lecturer at King's College, London, consultant at the Institute of Psychiatry, and president of the British branch of The International Association for Near Death Studies, acknowledges that there are deep problems in interpreting first-person memories of experiences that are supposed to have happened when the brain was out of action. Since the lucky survivor can only tell you about them after the event, how can we be sure that these things were perceived and felt at the time that their brains were messed up, rather than being invented afterwards?</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; ">The same problem applies to dreams, indeed to any memory. Memory is notoriously fallible, and is treacherously easily misled by expectation. The cognitive psychologist Elizabeth Loftus has done brilliant experiments showing how the recall of real experiences can be transformed by what people think should have happened, and by what they are told might have happened.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; ">In 150 years the science of perception has taught us that the way we appreciate the world around us is as much dependent on our expectations, our experiences, our inferences, as it is on the hard evidence of images on our retinas or vibrations in our ears. Remember the occasions when you have seen a face in the flickering flames of a fire, or been certain that you saw a person in the distance as you walked along at night – only to discover that the face in the fire disappears with the next burst of flame and the person in the dark is just a letterbox.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; ">Is it not significant that the NDEs of Christians are full of Biblical metaphor? Either this confirms the correctness of their particular faith or it says that NDEs, like normal perception and memory, are redolent of culture, personal prejudice and past experience. Perhaps if Eben Alexander were a Muslim, there would have been the mythical 72 virgins on the butterfly wing, rather than the bucolic one. If he were a Buddhist he would be called a de-lok, a person who has seemingly died, but who travels into bardo – an afterlife state – guided by a Buddhist deity.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; ">What Dr Alexander and his PR people claim is that his description of the afterlife is more authentic because he is a neurosurgeon. But when there is no evidence except the word of the beholder, a scientist's accounts are no more reliable than those of anyone else. Would we literally believe the contents of a scientist's dream because he or she has a PhD? If a scientist sees the lines of a visual illusion as wonky, should we believe that they really are wonky?</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; ">Science has progressed by challenge and disagreement. But what is needed to consider seriously the kinds of claims made by Dr Alexander is not flowery prose and hyperbolic headlines. It's hard evidence.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; ">But I am trying (not very convincingly, I know) to keep an open mind. I remember the story of the nobleman who asked the Zen Master Hakuin, "What happens to the enlightened man at death?"</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; ">"Why ask me?" said Hakuin.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; ">"Because you're a Zen master."</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; ">"Yes, but not a dead one."</div><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; "></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; "><strong>Colin Blakemore is Professor of Neuroscience and Philosophy, School of Advanced Study, University of London</strong></div></div></div><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/9598971/Is-the-afterlife-full-of-fluffy-clouds-and-angels.html">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/9598971/Is-the-afterlife-full-of-fluffy-clouds-and-angels.html</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

Is the afterlife full of fluffy clouds and angels? - Telegraph

Have you ever noticed that more people come back from Heaven than from Hell? We have all read those astonishing reports of near-death experi...

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Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock 10/13/2012

<ul class="diigo-linkroll"> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="http://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2012/10/11/adlibs/">Make your own political campaign ad</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">Students can make their own political ads on this new website from PBS. This is a cool idea, just realize that these topics are very emotional, so handle what you do well.</p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/teaching">teaching</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/politics">politics</a></p> </li> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="http://www.edutopia.org/blog/film-festival-bullying-prevention">Five-Minute Film Festival: Preventing Bullying</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">A recommended playlist of videos from YouTube to use when tackling bullying shared via Edutopia. </p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/teaching">teaching</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/bullying">bullying</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/edutopia">edutopia</a></p> </li> </ul><p class="diigo-ps">Posted from <a href='http://www.diigo.com'>Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href='http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher'>here</a>.</p>

Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock 10/13/2012

Make your own political campaign ad Students can make their own political ads on this new website fr...

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Stanford Medicine 25 - Stanford University School of Medicine

Welcome to the Stanford Medicine 25 website. Remember, this site is NOT the Stanford Medicine 25; it is only a map to a territory, one that must be explored in person! The Stanford Medicine 25 consists of hands-on sessions in small groups. You can't substitute for that, and we don't try to. However, this site provides a place to go to remind ourselves of what we have learned, or are about to learn in a hands-on session.<br /><br><br /><br>Why the Stanford Medicine 25?<br /><br><br /><br> • We recognized that after a med school physical diagnosis course, there is little emphasis on these skills in the 3rd and 4th years of medical school or in an internal medicine residency.<br /><br> • In the absence of a high-stakes clinical bedside final exam (as opposed to a high-stakes multiple choice exam), there is little impetus for people to learn and master bedside skills—truth is, you can be board certified in internal medicine and no one hasreally ascertained that your technique in doing an ankle reflex allows you to accurately say a reflex is truly absent. (You will be surprised how most 'absent' reflexes become 'present' when you learn good technique.) Does it matter? It does to us.<br /><br> • In observing students and residents perform physical diagnosis maneuvers at the bedside, we observe that though they know the theory, their technique may prevent them from eliciting the sign reliably.<br /><br> • We find a real hunger among our residents in internal medicine to sharpen their skills at the bedside.<br /><br> • Many diseases (almost all of dermatology for instance) are diagnosed by bedside exam. In neurology for example, even if the CT and MRI reveals a lot to you, only your exam can tell you what the functional consequence is in terms of motor or sensory loss or cognitive deficit.<br /><br> • For evidence-based medicine fans, a cautionary note here: we are not trying to prove anything, but we do want to be sure that when people write in the chart "reflexes intact" or "cranial nerves intact" or "S1 and S2 heard, no m or g" that it is not a form of fiction, but represents an accurate observation.<br /><br><br /><br>***<br /><br><br /><br>Thyroid Exam<br /><br>A good thyroid exam depends above all on knowledge of anatomy and proper technique.<br /><br><br /><br>Gait Abnormalities<br /><br>Abnormal gaits are commonly seen in the hospital and elsewhere. Many of them should be recognizable on sight and it would be a shame to subject a person to a CAT or MRI for lack of recognition. We review a number of abnormal gaits and their disease associations.<br /><br><br /><br>Examination of the Spleen<br /><br>An enlarged spleen can be easily missed. It is a prime example of how technique matters and even with the best technique, the spleen is not easily felt. <br /><br><br /><br>Examination of the Liver<br /><br>The liver, unlike the spleen is easily located when enlarged and its surface can be readily felt.<br /><br><br /><br>Liver Disease, Head to Foot<br /><br>Many if not most of the signs of liver disease are paradoxically to be found outside the abdomen. The clinician needs to be able to elicit and recognize these signs and here we review them from head to foot.<br /><br><br /><br>Ascites & Venous Patterns<br /><br>The simple act of observing venous patterns and the direction of venous flow on the abdomen can help us to differentiate inferior vena cava obstruction from portal hypertension from portal hypertension. The techniques for detecting ascites are reviewed here.<br /><br><br /><br>Knee Exam<br /><br>The knee is one of the most common causes of joint pain. A good knee exam helps us to rule out serious conditions such as a septic or inflammatory joint space and can also help make an accurate anatomical diagnosis of ligament or meniscus injury.<br /><br><br /><br>Shoulder Exam<br /><br>Careful examination of the shoulder can provide valuable information and help the physician determine when image studies may or may not be helpful.<br /><br><br /><br>Lymph Node Exam<br /><br>Do you know what a "shotty" lymph node is? Do you keep your nails neatly trimmed? Learn this and other tips from our experts and watch them perform a meticulous lymph node exam.<br /><br><br /><br>Deep Tendon Reflexes<br /><br>Subtle changes in your technique can elicit an otherwise absent deep tendon reflex. Having a proper reflex hammer helps. Here we review those subtle techniques to improve on this import exam skill.<br /><br><br /><br>Cerebellar Exam<br /><br>A number of signs and symptoms correlate with cerebellar disease and the clinician needs to be able to elicit them from head to foot. <br /><br><br /><br>Fundoscopic Exam<br /><br>When it comes to an ophthalmoscopic exam there's more to it than meets the eye! Here we take a look at the various ophthalmoscopes available to internists and review their proper use. <br /><br><br /><br>Pulmonary Exam<br /><br>The pulmonary exam is more than simple auscultation--in fact percussion and inspection often tell you much more than auscultation. Knowing the normal boundaries of percussion and the surface anatomy is critical. <br /><br><br /><br>Precordial Movements<br /><br>Palpation is a critical part of the cardiac exam. The size and the character of the PMI (PMI) can speak volumes and predict the presence of an S3 or 4.<br /><br><br /><br>Cardiac Second Sounds<br /><br>The second sounds and their variations can tell us volumes about everything from pulmonary or systolic hypertension to bundle-branch block. <br /><br><br /><br>Neck Veins & Wave Forms<br /><br>Identifying an elevated jugular venous pulse will almost always affect your management of a patient. An understanding of waveforms can help you recognize everything from canon "a" waves of complete heart block to "ventricularization" of the "v" wave in tricuspid regurgitation.<br /><br><br /><br>BP & Pulsus Paradoxus<br /><br>An accurate and reproducible blood pressure reading is a basic clinical skill. We review that skill and discuss how to test for pulsus paradoxus.<br /><br><br /><br>Ankle Brachial Index<br /><br>Measuring an ankle brachial index is a simple skill that can be done at the bedside and give you helpful information about a patient's peripheral circulation. This technique is reviewed here.<br /><br><br /><br>The Hand in Diagnosis<br /><br>The hands are a window to the body, and changes in the hands are linked to a plethora of illnesses. Recognizing these phenotypic expressions of disease is a basic clinical skill. <br /><br><br /><br>Bedside Ultrasound<br /><br>With improvement in technology, the bedside ultrasound is becoming frequent in use. Here we discuss the principles and basics of bedside ultrasound. <br /><br><br /><br>Rectal Exam<br /><br>A rectal exam is important to help rule out prostate issues, diagnosing causes of perirectal pain and looking for distal rectal masses. As the saying goes, "If you don't put your finger in, you will put your foot in!" <br /><br><br /><br>Pupillary Responses<br /><br>The pupillary response requires a complex integration of nerve fibers. An abnormal pupillary response can be a harbinger for disease or simply a benign process. We review the physiology behind this reflex and discuss situations where it will be abnormal.<br /><br><br /><br>Involuntary Movements<br /><br>There are many types of involuntary movements and the diagnosis rests on observation and knowledge of the types of involuntary movements and their causes. <br /><br><br /><br>Internal Capsule Stroke<br /><br>A stroke within the internal capsule leads to a unique number of physical exam findings. We review these changes and compare them with strokes in other locations. <br /><br><br /><br>The Tongue in Diagnosis<br /><br>Changes in the tongue occur in many situations. Systemic disease such as amyloidosis or lymphoma will affect its size and color. Localized infections may suggest underlying immune disorders. Nutritional deficiencies will cause abnormalities.<br /><br><br /><br><a href="http://stanfordmedicine25.stanford.edu/">http://stanfordmedicine25.stanford.edu/</a>

Stanford Medicine 25 - Stanford University School of Medicine

Welcome to the Stanford Medicine 25 website. Remember, this site is NOT the Stanford Medicine 25; it is only a map to a territory, one that ...

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Where I want to be

It is 9:02 pm on Friday night, October 12, 2012 and it is Homecoming at Westwood. I'm on a plane to New Jersey getting ready to give a speech at the school of a person I admire very much, Eric Sheninger, a speech I agreed to give long before the football schedule was announced.<br /><br />Last week I was told this night was also senior night and that parents would escort their senior football players onto the field as they are announced to the cheering stands. I would be in the air between Albany and Atlanta during that time on the first leg of my flight.<br /><br />There is more than just a promise and contract here, on Monday, October 15, taxes are due. This speech and a tiny bit Kip and I saved up are what we need for taxes. Every speck of money I've earned in the past year has gone to whittle down a whopping debt due to an unexpected job situation several years a go. I need this speech to write that check on Monday.<br /><br />So, by the time I got to Atlanta, I knew that my husband and my father -- my son's "Poppa" would escort him onto the field. I'd already told the announcer and everyone that I wouldn't be there so hopefully it wouldn't be awkward.<br /><br />As I sat down to eat my taco salad by the baby grand piano, the pianist looked at me and began playing "Memory" from CATS. If I could have rolled my eyes at myself, I would have as I sniffled just a bit between bites.<br /><br /><br /><br /><center><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/115916382183421477315/BloggerPictures?authkey=Gv1sRgCNPCp6bK0YDF6gE#5798743129470035538"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIZwTT5krTMiyfxp2DoW6XKaEh4JxiDY_JscMqB_Q2sSfF9CjCeTmWwhC0vA75DsTLTqToe-nKWnR5Gq7bHPxdHY7uXLyyJAPR4LG0rbF6l1UVNcdAtwuXnILFVjJU5RDzoyy54pwAJb12/s288/4.jpg" style="margin: 5px;" width="281" /></a></center><br />Then I got it, the text message with a photo from my sister -- they had given my son a flower to give his Mom -- a flower that my Dad held proudly (somewhat awkwardly perhaps) and my husband beamed proudly at his arm. They were all beaming - my son looked even taller than his towering 6'6" frame already is. They had their moment, so then I had mine. I wept. Tearing up, I didn't want to blubber in front of anyone, so I sort of used my napkin and sniffed and wiped my eyes as if I had eaten some hot sauce or something. No one noticed me. It just wasn't where I wanted to be.<br /><br />But then, I just had to reflect all the times I was there. I was a stay at home mom when he was 1 until he was 8 and then took a job at the school to be near him. I've been at his school to see him grow up and learn. I taught him to type and computer science. I even took him to China to the Flat Classroom Conference a few years a go and we walked on the Great Wall together. I'm here every day and bought a fridge at school to stock water so he can grab a cold one during the day. I stock pencils and paper so he has that too. I've been here for just about everything in his life. So, why did this one night hurt so bad? Why was I so wounded?<br /><br />I guess I just want to be there for EVERYTHING. Now that he's a senior, every moment is precious. Each sand that drops through the hourglass is grain that floats into oblivion through my grasping fingers. I want him to shrink and let me throw him onto my hip again as we play outside with our dog Crash (long since gone on to that doghouse in the sky.) I want to go back and do science experiments and bake cookies on cold winter days. I want to study with him again for his first test and read Narnia aloud as we go on family trips to try to help the kids find books they love -so they'd read. <br /><br />Time is passing and EVERY moment is precious... but it always has been ... just now that there are less of those moments, each moment magnifies in its glory and potential memory.<br /><br />But I can't go back... time only moves in forward motion and I can't back it up. It doesn't work that way. So, I'm here at 9:15 pm on the bumpy plane watching stewards come through the cabin while trying to hold onto the seats and serve drinks without pouring them in the laps of thirsty passengers. I'm just not where I want to be right now.<br /><br />But you know what... this happens. Life happens. In history and even now there are Moms and Dads separated from their kids by oceans... not just missing senior night but missing their child's WHOLE senior year. There are Moms and Dads in cold cemeteries whose blank eyes won't open again to see their child walk the stage or get married. There are Moms and Dads tonight with children in cold cemeteries too or even worse, warm children whose eyes have closed for the last time. <br /><br />So, although I'm not the place I want to be, this is life and life happens. I have healthy children and although I don't know the score of the Homecoming game or if my son is playing well and has sacked the quarterback again, I do have a son and he has a Mom. I have a husband and two more children who will be here after this year. And it isn't like I'm sending him off forever. He's going off to college, but that is as it should be. We're driving each other crazy anyway. He's ready and we are too.<br /><br />These are the thoughts of a parent of a child about to graduate from high school. Full of self doubt, what ifs, and tears. I might just burst into tears at any time, like the other day as I looked at his favorite kind of Fruit Rollups (he doesn't eat them any more) although I do a pretty good job hiding those tears if it happens. I prefer to keep it to myself. It seems like a pretty sad thing to have such pity parties and I don't like them.<br /><br />I have a wonderful son and am blessed to have been given him to raise. He's not perfect but I'm far from it. We've had to forgive each other a lot but we've also laughed a lot and had a great time too. <br /><br />This is my son in whom I am well pleased. Tonight, I am where I should be... keeping a promise to a friend and using this opportunity to pay a bill that needs to be paid. Life isn't all about doing what you want to do. Besides, I've turned down that speech in January and another in February and a trip to Japan in March. I'm going to be here the rest of the year and have no regrets. If this is the only regret I have from this year full of memories, then I'll be doing well because I don't think any parent is ever there enough for these moments.<br /><br />So, now, I'm going to smell the Biscoff cookies the person next to me is eating (that I'm not going to eat) and review my 21st Century Influencer presentation just one more time and then settle back knowing that I may not be where I want to be, but I'm in the right place for where I should be at this moment in time. I pray that missing this one thing that my son will recall all the times I have been there and know that his Mom may be flying over Virginia right now but that I love him with all my heart and would be there if I could. I'm going to give the speech of my life, worthy for missing such a moment as this --because if the good Lord has taken me and put me here, I know Him well enough to know that He has me here for a very good reason. I'm going to give all I have.<br /><br />Goodnight friends and thanks for reading the thoughts of a Mom missing her child... missing tonight and already missing him for what I know is coming. Because I may always want to be with him, but it is for the best that I let him go. <br /><br />To all you parents out there who know exactly what this feels like... here's to you. We've spent lots of nights with sick kids, waiting up for kids who missed curfew, and wrapping presents for Christmas. We've planned birthday parties and sat in doctor's offices and stirred brownie batter. We've changed diapers and held hands and sung songs. I guess I could break into a rendition of "Days in the Sun" but that is enough. <br /><br />I'm proud of you, son. Mama would be there if she could tonight. I love you with all my heart. I dedicate my speech tomorrow in your honor. May it be one of the best I've ever given. Goodnight.<br /><br /><br />- Written on my iPad using Blog Press by Vicki Davis, author, Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds

Where I want to be

It is 9:02 pm on Friday night, October 12, 2012 and it is Homecoming at Westwood. I'm on a plane to New Jersey getting ready to give a s...

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