Matt Said, Jay Said, Helen Hunt Naked

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />Matt speaks, Jay speaks, You listen (kinda).<br /><br />Matt: Helloooooooooooooooooo<br />Jay: *sings* “I wanna sex you up”<br />Matt: Uh<br />Jay: *sings* “You make me feel good”<br />Matt: I do? … Ummm …<br />Jay: *sings* “I wanna rub you down …”<br />Matt: OKAY THAT’S ENOUGH!<br />Jay: Am I making you uncomfortable?<br />Matt: Eve more than usual.<br />Jay: Aww yeah!<br />Matt: STOP! JESUS DUDE!<br />Jay: You know you’re turned on.<br />Matt: I hate you.<br />Jay: That really hurts.<br />Matt: I know, but it was necessary.<br />Jay: I don’t think it was.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYQHJ-vWUuF8ndPJTZqqGILE26yMdngBoFsfUwS_FRbPFeXW6M3ao9gUCh1mQyv_kRBHUcwoaXxRboRjFAib1m6CyOr5YqDEOv6OZKaiK2VNXEvQcgIXdADk_8IFuURXpK6x053ExsLAA/s1600/helen-hunt-full-frontal-nude.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYQHJ-vWUuF8ndPJTZqqGILE26yMdngBoFsfUwS_FRbPFeXW6M3ao9gUCh1mQyv_kRBHUcwoaXxRboRjFAib1m6CyOr5YqDEOv6OZKaiK2VNXEvQcgIXdADk_8IFuURXpK6x053ExsLAA/s400/helen-hunt-full-frontal-nude.jpg" width="282" /></a></div>Matt: Hey. Whatever happened to Helen Hunt?<br />Jay: Random question is random!<br />Matt: Well, for some reason I thought of her this morning.<br />Jay: She was great in “As Good as it Gets”<br />Matt: One of my favorite movies.<br />Jay: Anyway, Helen Hunt?<br />Matt: I love her and she just disappeared.<br />Jay: She just had a movie come out this year.<br />Matt: Really? What was it about.<br />Jay: She plays some kind of sex therapist.<br />Matt: Really?<br />Jay: Wait … Actually a sex SURROGATE.<br />Matt: REAAAAAAAALLLLLLY?<br />Jay: And ... She gets all kinds of nekkid in that movie!<br />Matt: Nice! Totally nude?<br />Jay: Full-Frontal dude! And she looks amazing for her age.<br />Matt: Her age?<br />Jay: Yeah, she’s like late 50’s near 60 right?<br />Matt: No way!<br />Jay: *checks Google* She’s 49.<br />Matt: Yeah, see? Not nearly that old.<br />Jay: She doesn’t look that great for her age then.<br />Matt: Now that was hurtful!<br />Jay: Ha! I’m kidding! She’s gorgeous.<br />Matt: Damn right!<br /><br />Jay: Got any ideas for the show?<br />Matt: Nope. You?<br />Jay: We could talk about writing again.<br />Matt: That’s not bad.<br />Jay: Actually last time we talked more about books and authors and not writing.<br />Matt: Right. We can talk about OUR writing.<br />Jay: Things that inspire us.<br />Matt: Different styles.<br />Jay: Our hopes<br />Matt: And dreams!<br />Jay: The whole writing process.<br />Matt: It fits with my post on <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2013/02/what-are-words-for.html" target="_blank">Friday</a>.<br />Jay: And all our “Favorite and Least Favorite Words” stuff.<br />Matt: Oh God it’s brilliant!<br />Jay: So good it hurts.<br />Matt: Don’t get weird on me again.<br />Jay: I gotta be me.<br />Matt: Well … I guess.<br />Jay: Thanks.<br />Matt: Whatever.<br />Jay: Okay, we’re all set!<br />Matt: Monster show coming up!<br />Jay: Should I sing on the show?<br />Matt: Never.<br />Jay: So, Sooooo hurtful.<br />Matt: It’s for your own good.<br />Jay: I guess.<br />Matt: Okay, let’s do it!<br />Jay: AWESOME!<br /><br />Okay kids. More brilliance in action. Or something like that. Anyway, listen to “<a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid/2013/02/10/on-writing-deux" target="_blank">On Writing Deux</a>” Saturday night at 11 PM ET on I’m With Stupid!!!<br /><br /></div>

Matt Said, Jay Said, Helen Hunt Naked

Matt speaks, Jay speaks, You listen (kinda).Matt: HellooooooooooooooooooJay: *sings* “I wanna sex you up”Matt: UhJay: *sings* “You make me feel good”Matt: I do? … Ummm …Jay: *sings* “I wanna rub you down …”Matt: OKAY THAT’S ENOUGH!Jay: Am I making yo…

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28 in 28 #8: Townhouses

<i>February is Book Month on A Daily Dose of Architecture. The "<a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/search/label/28%20in%2028">28 in 28</a>" series features a different book every day of the month.</i><br /><br /><a href="http://www.dom-publishers.com/products/en/Construction-and-Design-Manuals/Townhouses.html"><b><i>Construction and Design Manual: Townhouses</i></b></a> by Hans Stimmann<br />DOM Publishers, 2011<br />Hardcover, 300 pages<br /><br /><img alt="28-28_townhouses.jpg" src="http://www.archidose.org/Blog/28-28_townhouses.jpg" title="Book cover" /><br /><br />When I was taking a virtual tour of <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2012/05/blur-worthy.html">Berlin's blurry buildings</a> last year, little did I know that the row of townhouses I honed in on is home to <a href="http://www.dom-publishers.com/">DOM Publishers</a>, headed by architect <a href="http://www.meuser-architekten.de/en/profile/philipp-meuser/">Phillipp Meuser</a>. Since 2005 the imprint has released book after book of helpful and well-made <a href="http://www.dom-publishers.com/en/Architectural-Guides">architectural guides</a> and <a href="http://www.dom-publishers.com/en/Construction-and-Design-Manuals">construction and design manuals</a>, among other types of titles. Falling into the construction and design manual category is this book on townhouses, a topic that DOM and Hans Stimmann should be familiar with, given the former's location within the blurry Friedrichswerder ensemble (the longest chapter in the book) and the latter's role as Berlin's Senate Building Director for Urban Development for 15 years.<br /><br />Stimmann's background tempers much of the book, particularly the introduction's "farewell to the machine for living in," a post-WWII history of housing in Berlin. He is in favor of the city's traditional urban morphology over modernist slabs and other typologies at odds with it. In his tenure as building director he capped building heights below 10 stories and instituted other measures in favor of "the uniform streetscapes and piazzas of old Europe," as the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/27/arts/design/27stim.html">New York Times described it</a>. His positions also favor private development over public housing, with the former taking shape as townhouses and the latter indicative of the slabs that betray the city's organic morphology.<br /><br />So Stimmann's manual of townhouses is also a document of his impact on Berlin, studied in 50 projects completed since he retired in 2006. He sees that "the bourgeois individual has returned from the suburbs to the city in search of the urban" (certainly not a condition limited to Berlin), but where is the urbanity in a 700-sm townhouse? Does it provide the density and diversity that is truly urban? In this vein the best case studies occur where multiple families and mixes of uses are found in one building, and thankfully there are a good number of those.<br /><br />My initial consternation with the lack of color photographs for the exteriors of the townhouses was abated slightly by the catalog of elements (facade, entrance, living room, kitchen, bathroom, staircase, exterior) that ends the book. This section includes color photos that are placed side by side for easy comparison. The resulting variety may not be as great as the historically organic cityscapes that Stimmann embraces, but the variations are where the book's value can be found. This is not a manual that says, "this is the way to design a townhouse." Rather, it's a collection of alternatives that inspire and have potential application beyond the confines of Berlin.<br /><br /><b>US: <a href="hhttp://www.amazon.com/gp/product/3869221445/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=3869221445&linkCode=as2&tag=aweeklydoseof-20" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy from Amazon.com" border="0" src="http://www.archidose.org/books/buy-from-tan.gif" /></a> CA: <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/3869221445/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=3869221445&linkCode=as2&tag=aweeklydoseof-20" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy from Amazon.ca" border="0" height="28" src="http://www.archidose.org/books/buy-from-tan-ca.gif" width="90" /></a> UK: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/3869221445/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=3869221445&linkCode=as2&tag=aweeklydoseof-20" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy from Amazon.co.uk" border="0" height="28" src="http://www.archidose.org/books/buy-from-tan-uk.gif" width="90" /></a></b>

28 in 28 #8: Townhouses

February is Book Month on A Daily Dose of Architecture. The "28 in 28" series features a different book every day of the month.Construction and Design Manual: Townhouses by Hans StimmannDOM Publishers, 2011Hardcover, 300 pagesWhen I was taking a virt…

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Staff Mechanical Design Engineer ( Pro/E | precision mechanism design| 3D CAD | testing | Metrology) (#109035)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="WordSection1"><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Job Title:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> Staff Mechanical Design Engineer<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Location:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> Milpitas, CA<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Duration:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> Fulltime<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Job Description:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The senior level mechanical engineer position is responsible for development of the next generation metrology tool as well as continuing improvement (CIP) of the current tools. The candidate will be responsible for key mechanical engineering tasks, from requirement specification, top level mechanical analysis, conceptual and detail design, prototype integration, testing and handoff to manufacturing. The detail design activities include system-level layout, opto-mechanical design, precision mechanism design and alignment tooling design, using Pro/E as the design tool.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The candidate must participate in the design process in cross-discipline teams including System Engineers, Optics Engineers, Manufacturing Engineering and other groups within K-T worldwide organization. He/she needs to exercises independent judgment in developing methods, techniques and Perform analysis as needed to verify new designs. The candidate is also expected to champion his/her designs throughout the release process and generate all required engineering documentation until they are fully released to manufacturing. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Preferred Qualifications:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">1.Require BSME or MSME (preferred) with at least 8+ years of concentration in mechanical design and engineering.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">2.Must have experience in opto-mechanical design, and/or precision mechanism design.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">3.Must have good understand in physics and mechanics. The candidate must be able to generate system-level concept with all-around consideration and perform high-level mechanical design, testing and troubleshooting.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">4.Familiar with mechanical manufacturing processes including machining, sheet metal fabrication, welding and castings.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">5.Good communication and team working skills are required.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">6.Experience in structure/vibration analysis, thermal analysis is desirable.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">7.Must be proficient in 3D solid modeling CAD. Strongly prefer ProEngineer/Wildfire  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Minimum Qualifications:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Bachelor's Level Degree with at least 8 years of experience. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">OR <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Master's Level Degree with at least 6 years of experience. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">OR <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Doctorate (Academic) with at least 3 years of experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Please send your resumes to vinod.sanker@kla-tencor.com<o:p></o:p></span></b></div></div></div>

Staff Mechanical Design Engineer ( Pro/E | precision mechanism design| 3D CAD | testing | Metrology) (#109035)

Job Title: Staff Mechanical Design EngineerLocation: Milpitas, CADuration: FulltimeJob Description:The senior level mechanical engineer position is responsible for development of the next generation metrology tool as well as continuing improvement (C…

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Mechanical Design Engineer (Pro/E | 3D CAD | Tool design | Metrology | semiconductor) (#109034)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="WordSection1"><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Job Title:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> Mechanical Design Engineer<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Location:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> Milpitas, CA<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Duration:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> Fulltime<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Job Description:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The senior level mechanical engineer position is responsible for development of the next generation metrology tool as well as continuing improvement (CIP) of the current tools. The candidate will be responsible for key mechanical engineering tasks, from requirement specification, top level mechanical analysis, conceptual and detail design, prototype integration, testing and handoff to manufacturing. The detail design activities include system-level layout, opto-mechanical design, precision mechanism design and alignment tooling design, using Pro/E as the design tool.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The candidate must participate in the design process in cross-discipline teams including System Engineers, Optics Engineers, Manufacturing Engineering and other groups within K-T worldwide organization. He/she needs to exercises independent judgment in developing methods, techniques and Perform analysis as needed to verify new designs. The candidate is also expected to champion his/her designs throughout the release process and generate all required engineering documentation until they are fully released to manufacturing. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Preferred Qualifications:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">1.Require BSME or MSME (preferred) with at least 5+ years of concentration in mechanical design and engineering.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">2.Must have experience in opto-mechanical design, and/or precision mechanism design.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">3.Must have good understanding in physics and mechanics. The candidate must be able to generate system-level concept with all-around consideration and perform high-level mechanical design, testing and troubleshooting.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">4.Familiar with mechanical manufacturing processes including machining, sheet metal fabrication, welding and castings.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">5.Good communication and team working skills are required.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">6.Experience in structure/vibration analysis, thermal analysis is desirable.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">7.Must be proficient in 3D solid modeling CAD. Strongly prefer ProEngineer/Wildfire  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Minimum Qualifications:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Bachelor's Level Degree with at least 5 years of experience. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">OR <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Master's Level Degree with at least 3 years of experience. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">OR <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Doctorate (Academic)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Please send your resumes to vinod.sanker@kla-tencor.com<o:p></o:p></span></b></div></div></div>

Mechanical Design Engineer (Pro/E | 3D CAD | Tool design | Metrology | semiconductor) (#109034)

Job Title: Mechanical Design EngineerLocation: Milpitas, CADuration: FulltimeJob Description:The senior level mechanical engineer position is responsible for development of the next generation metrology tool as well as continuing improvement (CIP) of…

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System Design Engineer (integrate | subsystems | COGS )(#109086)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="WordSection1"><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Job Title:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> System Design Engineer<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Location:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> Milpitas, CA<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Duration:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> Fulltime<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Job Description:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Corporate Platform Group(CPG) is responsible for delivering best in class automation solutions to KLA-Tencor <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Responsibilities:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">1.Develop systems engineering knowledge of complex leading edge wafer handling system.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">2.Own system architecture, design and interface issues<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">3.Assess products and components with respect to design for reliability, stability, serviceability and key performance metrics<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">4.Influence designers and designs to include features that will optimize performance, manufacturability, maintainability, diagnostics, cycle time, COGS, quality and reliability,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">5.Develop test procedures and reports to evaluate new and existing products.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">6.Partner with key suppliers to develop in depth knowledge of products and services and drive continuous improvement efforts.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">7.Act as a conduit between development engineering and internal and external customers to identify issues, drive solutions, as well as integrate new products<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">8.Travel as required to customers to support new product introductions and solve critical issues.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Preferred Qualifications:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">1.MS in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">2.3+ years of engineering experience<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">3.Strong analytical and communication (written and verbal) skills<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">4.Strong troubleshooting skills<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">5.Ability to work in a cross functional and global environment<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">6.Ability to travel <25%<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Please send your resumes to <a href="mailto:vinod.sanker@kla-tencor.com">vinod.sanker@kla-tencor.com</a>   </span></b></div></div></div>

System Design Engineer (integrate | subsystems | COGS )(#109086)

Job Title: System Design EngineerLocation: Milpitas, CADuration: FulltimeJob Description:Corporate Platform Group(CPG) is responsible for delivering best in class automation solutions to KLA-Tencor Responsibilities:1.Develop systems engineering knowl…

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Beanito's Bean Chips Review and Giveaway!

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghAs_tWoItZa43dP4uGaGz2XED5LCTiUNDjr9e9m_6TYC9s15q7qlI190VNJ1Hpw8iIpKVBZsCSqMlzPiCCdfGyjJBLv1CiDgHGe_J4ozXw1f1IfXCo9ubR3BLy3VF_b-pGcJAhJ0V0pA/s1600/Beanito's.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghAs_tWoItZa43dP4uGaGz2XED5LCTiUNDjr9e9m_6TYC9s15q7qlI190VNJ1Hpw8iIpKVBZsCSqMlzPiCCdfGyjJBLv1CiDgHGe_J4ozXw1f1IfXCo9ubR3BLy3VF_b-pGcJAhJ0V0pA/s200/Beanito's.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was sent a case of Beanito's bean chips for review.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For all you sports fans out there what's the one thing you tend to buy to munch on for watching sports?</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Chips, am I right?</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Warning!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Don't be fooled by those other so called bean chips!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Their main ingredients usually contain corn or potatoes!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thing is all of those bags of chips pack on a lot of calories and fat as well.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Why not snack the healthy way with <a href="http://beanitos.com/">Beanito's Chips</a>?</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Created for serious snackers by serious snackers.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Did you know that corn is in over 4,000 products and is linked to most of our health issues in the world today including obesity?</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They were on a mission to find a low glycemic snack and couldn't find one so they came up with their own and in January 2010 Beanito's took flight! </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Facts:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Won't spike blood sugar</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">loaded with non GMO vegetable fiber 20% which is the daily value in 10 chips!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5 grams of protein</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rich in essential ALA omega 3's (pinto beans and flax) 600mg</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">packed into a one delicious, satisfying and crunchy serving!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Free of:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">corn</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">wheat</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">soy</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">potato</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">trans fat</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">cholesterol</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">gluten free</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">non gmo</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Cheddar Cheese:</u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">made with pinto beans, whole grain rice and flax seed chips topped with a delicious sharp cheddar cheese taste.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I love the small size to these delightful crunchy and cheesy chips.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The taste is amazing, right amount of cheese flavor and perfect for dipping!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Chipotle BBQ:</u></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhUryOH4kSxDxGh3W92qNotlF6x0qoKSWAjM1nLE4bvnnb-Sokd2ZPIOp4M9BRtS6SdszZiyLT54ba241VeOya-FyTuzhP2bcyvRZzZSFmZbCLOQDYv5y1uOHj3uRY7ARCMWtcFe-2f9M/s1600/chipotle+bbq+beanito's.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhUryOH4kSxDxGh3W92qNotlF6x0qoKSWAjM1nLE4bvnnb-Sokd2ZPIOp4M9BRtS6SdszZiyLT54ba241VeOya-FyTuzhP2bcyvRZzZSFmZbCLOQDYv5y1uOHj3uRY7ARCMWtcFe-2f9M/s200/chipotle+bbq+beanito's.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you love hot and spicy foods such as chips then these are for you!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They taste good, don't get me wrong but to me I thought it was a bit too spicy.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Could be because I ate it straight out of the bag, what can I say I'm a brave woman!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Keep in mind I haven't tried the other two flavors yet, but I will!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of the chips I have tried so far they are amazing! </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I love finding new healthy foods, it helps me with those cravings sometimes to keep me from snacking on something that isn't healthy!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Pinto Bean: </u></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've tried pinto beans before but never pinto bean chips!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They had a different taste to them like say if you were to just eat the bean just as is, but has tons of great flavor and works well with salsa!</span><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Black Bean:</u></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Great flavor and works perfectly crumbled on soups, chili, dipped in salsa or cut into the strips on a salad!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tons of great flavor packed into bite sized chips!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><b><br /></b></u></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Wouldn't you just love to try these chips for yourself?</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>You can!</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Time for a </b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>Giveaway!</b></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>Winner will win a case of Beanito's Bean chips!</b></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"></span><br /><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><u>1.What's your perfect game time food?</u></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><u></u></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><u>Want an extra entry? </u></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><u>2. Follow my blog.</u></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><u>3.Then also follow me via Twitter, here. https://twitter.com/kelli_bliss </u></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><u>4. then tweet about the giveaway and make sure you use #Beanitos</u></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><u>5. leave me a link here to your tweet.</u></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Don't forget to check them out online at the sites below!</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://beanitos.com/">http://beanitos.com/</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://twitter.com/Beanitos"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">https://twitter.com/Beanitos</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Beanitos/197986039162">https://www.facebook.com/pages/Beanitos/197986039162</a></u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><a href="http://pinterest.com/beanitos/">http://pinterest.com/beanitos/</a></u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/BeanBrand">http://www.youtube.com/user/BeanBrand</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>

Beanito's Bean Chips Review and Giveaway!

I was sent a case of Beanito's bean chips for review.For all you sports fans out there what's the one thing you tend to buy to munch on for watching sports?Chips, am I right?Warning!Don't be fooled by those other so called bean chips!Their main ingre…

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What doctors worry about | TED Playlists | TED

We worry about what our doctors will tell us -- and so do they. Doctors, scientists and medical researchers weigh in on health care and better health practices.<br /><br><br /><br><a href="http://www.ted.com/playlists/70/what_doctors_worry_about.html">http://www.ted.com/playlists/70/what_doctors_worry_about.html</a>

What doctors worry about | TED Playlists | TED

We worry about what our doctors will tell us -- and so do they. Doctors, scientists and medical researchers weigh in on health care and better health practices.http://www.ted.com/playlists/70/what_doctors_worry_about.html…

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The future of medicine | TED Playlists | TED

Take this tour of medicine's future with some of the trailblazing doctors charting its course. Once you've seen a transplantable human kidney created from a 3D printer, almost anything is imaginable.<br /><br><br /><br><a href="http://www.ted.com/playlists/23/the_future_of_medicine.html">http://www.ted.com/playlists/23/the_future_of_medicine.html</a>

The future of medicine | TED Playlists | TED

Take this tour of medicine's future with some of the trailblazing doctors charting its course. Once you've seen a transplantable human kidney created from a 3D printer, almost anything is imaginable.http://www.ted.com/playlists/23/the_future_of_medic…

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Competition time!

<p>St. Patrick's Day is coming up shortly in March and I'd like to have an International giveaway to mark it!</p><p>The prize I am giving is this cute little hairband and matching hair clips (barretts).</p><p>To be in with a chance of winning you need to do is Write your email in the comment box below.</p><p>I have 2 prizes so I'll draw 2 winners on the 25th of February and mail them from Ireland to wherever you happen to live in the world.</p><p>Good luck and thanks for participating in advance!</p><p>Please feel free to share this with anyone you think might be interested.</p><div class='separator' style='clear: both; text-align: center;'> <a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3bt8_iY3t99HsW7xZ-PlZH1C1hrA6abVJsAm1aRQdVXcQXB4Muxi0FxHWamG39OcF0Lmy5qsCvo6fQlCKj8bkby1VcIE-1HUxmVEkdXDDW_5GVXOU43DjAv3S9BAQZgi7mRiQ1kdXXdZb/s1600/20130208_165815.jpg' imageanchor='1' style='margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;'> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3bt8_iY3t99HsW7xZ-PlZH1C1hrA6abVJsAm1aRQdVXcQXB4Muxi0FxHWamG39OcF0Lmy5qsCvo6fQlCKj8bkby1VcIE-1HUxmVEkdXDDW_5GVXOU43DjAv3S9BAQZgi7mRiQ1kdXXdZb/s400/20130208_165815.jpg" /> </a> </div>

Competition time!

St. Patrick's Day is coming up shortly in March and I'd like to have an International giveaway to mark it!The prize I am giving is this cute little hairband and matching hair clips (barretts).To be in with a chance of winning you need to do is Write …

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Curing chemophobia: Don’t buy the alternative medicine in “The Boy With a Thorn in His Joints.” - Slate Magazine

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; 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; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">When I read Susannah Meadows' account in the <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: italic; ">New York Times Magazine</em> of her <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/magazine/the-boy-with-a-thorn-in-his-joints.html?pagewanted=all" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; ">desperate search for an effective treatment</a> for her son Shepherd's juvenile idiopathic arthritis, as a mother, I totally got it. I flashed back to a night 10 years ago, the sleet pinging on our minivan's roof as I careened down the street in the middle of an ice storm at 2 a.m., listening to my 8-year-old son struggle to breathe in the back and praying that the lights would all be green on the four-minute drive to the ER.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; 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; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">We were frequent flyers at the ER that winter, as every respiratory virus that made the rounds settled in Mike's throat, swelling his vocal cords until they threatened to cut off his airway. I would lie awake at night after each episode, unable to sleep for fear I wouldn't hear him if the croup returned, as we were warned it might. His pediatricians were concerned and mystified; croup severe enough to land an otherwise healthy elementary schooler in the hospital is rare. My husband and I were distraught.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; 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; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">We got a lot of advice, much of which I scribbled on a pad now stuffed into a worn manila folder full of articles from medical journals, old appointment cards, and notes from consultations with specialists that is still in my filing cabinet. Some of it was tough to take, literally: daily meds that tasted vile. No more mint chocolate-chip ice cream? Mike was bereft.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; 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; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">I questioned every bit of it. I'm a scientist, which makes me a professionally annoying skeptic. Why? What's the evidence? How was it obtained? Is it plausible? And above all, what are the risks?—because there are always risks. I'm an equal-opportunity skeptic, as willing to ask these questions of specialists as I am of well-meaning friends of friends.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; 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; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Meadows, on the other hand, suffers from a condition that makes it difficult to be an equal-opportunity skeptic and infinitely harder to make informed decisions about her son's treatment: chemophobia. An irrational fear of chemicals, which drives her to let a friend of a friend—a social worker and massage therapist—prescribe her son's drug treatment.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; 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; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Meadows isn't alone in her molecular paranoia. We are a chemophobic culture. <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: italic; ">Chemical</em> has become a synonym for something artificial, adulterated, hazardous, or toxic. Chemicals are bad—for you, for your children, for the environment. But whatever chemophobics would like to think, there is no avoiding chemicals, no way to create chemical-free zones. Absolutely everything is made of atoms and molecules; it's all chemistry.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; 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; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">In some ways, chemophobia is more like color blindness than a true phobia, such as a fear of heights. Chemophobics are blind to the vast majority of chemicals they encounter. Every breath you take has almost as many molecules in it as there are stars in the universe, and each breath contains dozens of different chemicals, some of which, like oxygen, you can't do without. Some chemicals are superheroes—antibiotics and anesthetics come to mind—others are villains that prey on the unwary: Every year, an average of 450 people in the United States are killed by the carbon monoxide produced by their furnaces and generators. The vast majority of chemicals are like the vast majority of people, doing their jobs, day in and day out, without fuss or recognition: DNA, caffeine, water, oxygen.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; 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; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">In "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/magazine/the-boy-with-a-thorn-in-his-joints.html?ref=magazine&_r=0" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; ">The Boy With a Thorn in His Joints</a>," Meadows writes that Shepherd's arthritis spiraled out of control while he was taking the first-line drug, naproxen. His rheumatologist then prescribed methotrexate, an anti-cancer drug that at low doses can send juvenile arthritis into remission. Meadows' chemophobia immediately flared up. In a panic and "desperate to find a way to solve Shepherd's problems without the drugs," she called Char Walker, a friend of a friend whose son had also been diagnosed with juvenile arthritis. Walker recommended Montmorency cherry juice and four-marvels powder, a traditional Chinese medicine. The regimen sounds warm and friendly—like something a Disney princess would use—and above all, safe. In contrast, naproxen and methotrexate sound harsh and forbidding. There is nothing in either name that give any otherwise well-educated nonscientist a clue what the remedy is made from, other than a (presumably nasty) chemical. When it comes to naming our stuff, I admit, chemists tend to be more ponderous than poetic.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; 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; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">The simple names favored by the alternative medicine community provide an illusion of safety and comprehensibility that the chemical names can't match. Another common chemical name for methotrexate is amethopterin, which comes from the roots <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: italic; ">meth</em>, Greek for wine, which I might stretch to spirits, and <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: italic; ">pterin</em>, Greek for feathers. And naproxen is a chemical analog of salicylic acid, which can be extracted from willow bark. I strongly suspect that if Shepherd's rheumatologist had called what he prescribed <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: italic; ">spirits of feathers</em> and an <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: italic; ">extract of willow</em>, rather than methotrexate and naproxen, Meadows would have been happier.</div></div><div class="pagebreak section" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; 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; "></div><a name="pagebreak_anchor_2" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; 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; visibility: hidden; "></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; 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; display: inline !important; float: none; "></span><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; 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; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Let me point out that the active chemicals—yes, chemicals, the stuff everything is made from—in four-marvels powder include quercetin, berberine, and achyranthine, names that don't smell quite as sweet as Montmorency cherry juice. Meadows is not unique in being seduced into complacency by language. Psychologists call this "processing fluency" —we cope better and trust information more when the words it's couched in are easy to pronounce and familiar. Terms that don't roll easily off our tongues make us nervous. Given the choice, more people would rather take smooth-sounding Aleve than naproxen, though they are the precisely the same chemical.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; 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; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">When Meadows' husband has serious reservations about her desire to ditch the advice of not one, but two, pediatric rheumatologists, Meadows implies <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: italic; ">he</em> was the poorly informed one: "I was nervous about keeping Shepherd on methotrexate, but Darin didn't share my squeamishness. He has always been more comfortable with pharmaceuticals, more trusting in general."</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; 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; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">She seems blissfully unaware that the four-marvels powder that Walker's naturopath recommended is a recognized pharmaceutical, just one from a pharmacopeia that she is unfamiliar with, that of traditional Chinese medicine. Four-marvels powder, or <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: italic; ">si miao san</em>, has long been prescribed by Chinese medicine practitioners for arthritis and other inflammatory disorders. My quibble is not that it is ineffective (although many traditional medicines are pure placebos, several recent peer-reviewed studies have shown that at least one of the active drugs in four-marvels powder, quercetin, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3533481" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; ">exhibits anti-inflammatory activity</a>). My concern is that four-marvels powder is not a chemical-free remedy but a drug, and one that Chinese medicine practitioners would hesitate to prescribe to pregnant women, which might give me pause before I started pouring it down my young child's throat. Apparently neither Meadows nor Walker is concerned that they are being too "trusting."</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; 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; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">The reality is this. Meadows has been tricked by the language, maliciously or not, into considering switching her child from a carefully measured weekly dose of this molecule:</div></div><div class="parbase image slate_image section" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; 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; "><div class="sl-art-illo-cntr" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; float: none; text-align: center; width: 250px; display: block; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglf4Rcs3Cnu-eHQDixRKJ1yAUT_kgU01l5Og5xX6hsEMY4x5RrJHLWl67wdfrNUtnL2aOe86fMFz-EzXaTCHnSDIZbx2g3mJEySNq_McjPhyUNFA_v3-nxoSwWBEUrFyB5d0PwSqN8arw/s1600/130205_MEDEX_HERBALMED4.jpg.CROP.article250-medium-740439.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5842634882703681538" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglf4Rcs3Cnu-eHQDixRKJ1yAUT_kgU01l5Og5xX6hsEMY4x5RrJHLWl67wdfrNUtnL2aOe86fMFz-EzXaTCHnSDIZbx2g3mJEySNq_McjPhyUNFA_v3-nxoSwWBEUrFyB5d0PwSqN8arw/s320/130205_MEDEX_HERBALMED4.jpg.CROP.article250-medium-740439.jpg" /></a></div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; 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; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">To four doses a day of an unknown amount of this chemical:</div></div><div class="parbase image slate_image section" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; 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; "><div class="sl-art-illo-cntr" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; float: none; text-align: center; width: 250px; display: block; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvcMoyyxRBYfi3mUPiXAI-C7IIQe8UfXhSf0M8PD2cp7GJhMa1jBk8ZOS4wTdXst-sD0knj_G3cH3aU89Akzo2cg2GauroSQ2TZQZTuQDPearL_dwiAkJ-Ihn0i6M5zgMaubzqwpJlGHU/s1600/130205_MEDEX_HERBALMED5.jpg.CROP.article250-medium-742187.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5842634893619168978" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvcMoyyxRBYfi3mUPiXAI-C7IIQe8UfXhSf0M8PD2cp7GJhMa1jBk8ZOS4wTdXst-sD0knj_G3cH3aU89Akzo2cg2GauroSQ2TZQZTuQDPearL_dwiAkJ-Ihn0i6M5zgMaubzqwpJlGHU/s320/130205_MEDEX_HERBALMED5.jpg.CROP.article250-medium-742187.jpg" /></a></div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; 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; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Really?</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; 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; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">I want to be absolutely clear. Neither of these chemicals is benign or nontoxic. The LD-50 (the "lethal dose" amount that kills 50 percent of mice fed the chemical) is about the same for quercetin as it is for methotrexate, roughly 150 milligrams per kilogram of body weight.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; 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; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Meadows admits to obsessing at night over the potential side effects of methotrexate, which are clearly—and frighteningly—detailed on the prescribing information. Nausea, dizziness, liver damage. What was she doing to her little boy?</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; 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; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">But what does Meadows know about the risks of what she calls Walker's regimen? Four-marvels powder has no FDA-mandated, rigorously reviewed package insert. Berberine, one of the drugs found in four-marvels powder, has been documented to cause brain damage in infants. Hello? Exactly how much of this have you been giving your son? And that may be the most important question. Meadows has no idea that she is giving her son this drug, and she certainly has no idea how much he is taking. Appallingly, the FDA trusts manufacturers and marketers to decide for themselves <a href="http://www.fda.gov/food/dietarysupplements" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; ">if an herbal remedy</a> is safe, they will take action only if problems are reported later, essentially letting the <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2012/07/dietary_supplements_at_the_olympics_why_athletes_risk_false_drug_charges_.html" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; ">dietary supplement</a> and <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2012/11/herbal_supplement_dangers_fda_does_not_regulate_supplements_and_they_can.html" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; ">herbal remedy industry field-test their products</a> on the public, with no supervision.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; 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; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">Meadows' "better the molecule I don't know, than the molecule I do" stance may help her sleep better, but it is ignorance nonetheless. The chemicals are still there, even when you squint your eyes closed so you can't see them.</div></div><div class="text parbase section" style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; 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; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; ">As a chemist, a teacher, and a parent, I think (<a href="http://cultureofchemistry.fieldofscience.com/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; ">and blog</a>) a lot about how to immunize people against chemophobia. It's not because I want to keep chemical companies in business, but because I want to keep my students and friends from being duped into using chemicals that are unsafe, whatever their source. So here is my best advice to keep you from succumbing to the chemophobia pandemic: One, everything is a chemical. Two, don't take medical advice from a magazine writer, however impassioned and well-intentioned, however popular her story is on the <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: italic; ">New York Times</em>' "most read" list, who trusts a massage therapist over medical experts. And three, there are risks to all chemicals, even the ones with friendly names like Montmorency cherry juice and four-marvels powder. Next time, before you click "share" on an article, be annoyingly skeptical. We can stamp out chemophobia in our lifetimes.</div></div></div><a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2013/02/curing_chemophobia_don_t_buy_the_alternative_medicine_in_the_boy_with_a.single.html">http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2013/02/curing_chemophobia_don_t_buy_the_alternative_medicine_in_the_boy_with_a.single.html</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

Curing chemophobia: Don’t buy the alternative medicine in “The Boy With a Thorn in His Joints.” - Slate Magazine

When I read Susannah Meadows' account in the New York Times Magazine of her desperate search for an effective treatment for her son Shepherd's juvenile idiopathic arthritis, as a mother, I totally got it. I flashed back to a night 10 years ago, the s…

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Severe Weather Advisory In Effect For NYC

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="2013_01_winterwarningsnow.jpg" src="http://gothamist.com/attachments/jen/2013_01_winterwarningsnow.jpg" /><br /><i style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Photograph of Mayor Bloomberg briefing reporters at a Department of Sanitation facility on the West Side of Manhattan by <a href="https://twitter.com/NYCSanitation/status/299612998148947968/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #666666; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Opens in a new window">DSNY</a></i><br />From:http://gothamist.com<br /><br /><br /><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">With the Nemo Blizzard Warning <a href="http://gothamist.com/2013/02/07/what_time_is_it_going_to_start_snow.php" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #666666; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">beginning at 6 a.m.</a> on Friday, preceded by cellphone carriers sending out<a href="http://gothamist.com/2013/02/07/emergency_alert_about_snow_blizzard.php" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #666666; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">emergency alerts to customers in New York</a>, New York city and state officials really are battening down the hatches <a href="http://gothamist.com/2013/02/07/major_winter_storm_expected_tomorro.php" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #666666; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">for the coming snow</a>. Mayor Bloomberg issued a "Severe Weather Advisory" earlier tonight: "At the direction of the Mayor, the public is hereby advised that significant snowfall has been forecast starting tomorrow afternoon through Saturday morning. The public is urged to avoid all unnecessary driving during the duration of the storm and, until further directed, to use public transportation wherever possible." (Public transportation has<a href="http://gothamist.com/2013/02/07/heres_how_the_mta_will_stare_this_b.php#photo-1" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #666666; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">snow-fighting machinery at the ready</a>!)</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">Bloomberg also said, "As New Yorkers are making their commuting plans for tomorrow, they should be aware that driving conditions will be difficult. If you must drive, use extreme caution." His advisory continues:</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><blockquote style="background-repeat: no-repeat repeat; border-left-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 1px; margin: 0px 0px 20px 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 10px; quotes: ''; vertical-align: baseline;">The MTA has advised of potential service disruptions, and information about any service changes to public transportation is available on the MTA website at http://www.mta.info/.<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />Any vehicle found to be blocking roadways or impeding the ability to plow streets shall be subject to towing at the owner’s expense.<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />Alternate side parking is suspended citywide through Sunday. Due to anticipated high winds the Staten Island Ferry will be operating on a modified schedule beginning tomorrow afternoon.<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />The Emergency Management, Fire, Police, Sanitation, and Transportation Commissioners will be taking all appropriate and necessary steps to preserve public safety and to render all required and available assistance to protect the security, well-being and health of the residents of the City.<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />City government and public schools are open tomorrow. Afterschool programs are subject to cancellation.<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />Due to potential power outages and transportation difficulties, New Yorkers are advised to stock up on potential supplies, including medicine.</blockquote>Earlier, the Mayor's office Tweeted, "We're ready for #Nemo: we have 250,000+ tons of salt on hand, 350 salt spreaders & plows ready to be put on 1,800 Sanitation trucks."<div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">Governor Cuomo is also activating the NY State Emergency Operations Center Friday at noon to monitor the storm and response efforts. He said, "I urge New Yorkers to closely watch local news reports for weather updates and adjust their travel plans accordingly, including avoiding non-essential travel during and directly after the storm since roads will be icy with blizzard conditions in some places."</div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">Here's the Governor's press release:</div><blockquote style="background-repeat: no-repeat repeat; border-left-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 1px; margin: 0px 0px 20px 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 10px; quotes: ''; vertical-align: baseline;">Beginning Friday morning and lasting through Saturday afternoon, significant snow and wind are forecasted to affect the metro-New York City and Long Island areas, as well the Hudson Valley. New Yorkers could see potentially significant and prolonged transportation disruptions, power outages and other impacts. The greatest concern for the Long Island area is the possibility for high winds. Gusts of up to 50 mph are expected, which could cause downed power lines, power outages, downed trees, beach erosion, battering waves, and coastal flooding. Minor widespread coastal flooding with local, moderate coastal flooding is also expected.<div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin-top: 0.75em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin-top: 0.75em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">Representatives from state agencies will be present at the State EOC to coordinate storm response efforts, including Office of Emergency Management, Department of Environmental Conservation, Office of Fire Prevention and Control, Office of General Services, Department of Health, Division of Military and Naval Affairs, Public Service Commission, National Grid, Division of State Police, Thruway Authority, Department of Transportation and the American Red Cross.</div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin-top: 0.75em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">New York City, and Nassau and Suffolk counties report that they will activate their respective Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs) on Friday; counties in the Hudson Valley, Catskill, Capital District, and Northern New York regions continue to monitor the storm.</div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin-top: 0.75em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Governor advises drivers to take extra caution and only travel when necessary during the storm. Some of the most important tips for safe winter driving include:<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· Never follow a snowplow too closely or attempt to pass one. Remember that the highway ahead of the plow is usually snow-covered; <br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· Adjust speed for road conditions and maintain a safe distance from other vehicles; <br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· Schedule extra time for winter travel and be patient during ice and snow removal operations; <br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· Assume that bridge surfaces are slippery, as they freeze more quickly than road surfaces; <br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· Watch for black ice, which can be difficult to see but makes conditions slippery when pavement temperatures are below freezing; <br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· Have a cell phone handy, if possible, but do not text while driving; distracted driving is illegal and becomes even more dangerous during storm events; <br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· Never venture from your vehicle if snowbound; <br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· Equip your car with emergency supplies including sand, shovel, flares, booster cables, rope, ice scraper, portable radio, flashlight, blankets and extra warm clothes; <br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· Inform a responsible person of your destination, intended route, and estimated time of arrival; and <br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· Keep calm and do not panic in case of a vehicle breakdown, accident, or if you become snowbound.</div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin-top: 0.75em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">The State has taken the following steps to ensure readiness:</div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin-top: 0.75em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Power:</strong><br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· National Grid: The Governor’s office has been communicating to National Grid that they need to be ready with advance preparations and response plans. Earlier today National Grid announced that it is taking a series of advance steps to prepare for an incoming storm and the outages it may cause on Long Island, including securing hundreds of extra work crews, adding Call Center personnel and arranging schedules to allow extended coverage, and preparing all restoration equipment and inventories and pre-stocking strategic locations across the Island with wires, transformers, and additional restoration equipment. <br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· Public Service Commission: PSC Chairman Garry Brown has contacted the CEOs of all the major utilities to confirm storm preparation efforts. National Grid's gas operations (Long Island and New York City) are preparing for potential coastal impacts.<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· The New York Power Authority: NYPA’s statewide generation and transmission facilities are fully prepared for the forecast winter storm. All the required resources, including personnel, equipment and vehicles, have been put in place and are available to be called upon. NYPA will coordinate with state and local emergency management agencies, as necessary. Specific preparatory actions at the various NYPA facilities include:<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />o Extra personnel on shift during the storm<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />o Snow removal equipment fueled up, tested and ready to be utilized<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />o Emergency generators fueled and ready<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />o Supplies of diesel fuel and gasoline available at sites<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />o NYPA line crews are prepared for dispatch</div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin-top: 0.75em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Thruway Authority:</strong><br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· All equipment has been prepared for the storm including: 197 seven-ton snow plows, 142 medium-duty snow plows, 53 front end loaders, three large truck mounted snow blowers and one large front end loader mounted snow blower <br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· 105,989 tons of salt on hand <br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· Approximately 600 maintenance staff dedicated to snow and ice operations <br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· All 21 Highway Maintenance Sections will be fully staffed around the clock for the duration of the storm <br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· The Authority will be providing staff to support the activation of the State Office of Emergency Management <br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· Thruway’s Emergency Operations Center is scheduled to be activated jointly with State Police Troop T on Friday afternoon <br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· Thruway’s Statewide Operations Center will have additional staff to handle increased call volume typical of significant weather events <br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· Troop T operated ATVs and snowmobiles are prepped <br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· Troop T will be adding additional patrols during the storm <br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· Due to colder temperatures and sufficient residual salt on the pavement from recent storms widespread pavement pretreatment is not required in upstate New York. Further south where temperatures are expected to be warmer, approximately 40 miles of critical ramps along with the Tappan Zee Bridge will be pre-treated.</div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin-top: 0.75em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">State Bridge Authority</strong><br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· The Bridge Authority has the Bear Mountain, Newford Beacon, Mid-Hudson, Kingston-Rhinecliff, and Rip Van Winkle bridges staffed 24-7 until the storm is over.<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· They expect the bridges to be fully functional throughout the storm, weather permitting.<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· The Bridge Authority has staged 14 large plow vehicles, 16 small plow vehicles, and other loaders and vehicles necessary to maintain continuous operations.</div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin-top: 0.75em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Metropolitan Transportation Authority</strong><br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· MTA New York City Transit's Department of Subways is mobilizing its fleet of snow and ice-busting equipment designed to keep outdoor tracks and the third rail clear of snow and ice during harsh winter weather. The fleet includes super-powered snow throwers, 10 jet-powered snow-blowers, and five specially-built de-icing cars, all designed to keep service moving. Diesel fleet trains are also being made available to clear snow from the right of way—while not carrying passengers. Forecasts of accumulating snow may also require NYC Transit to shift the storage locations of subway cars indoors. The outdoor steps at subway stations will shoveled and salted along with the platforms on the outdoor segments of lines.<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· The Department of Buses has and is deploying its own fleet of snow fighting equipment, including 28 salt-spreading trucks equipped with plows assigned to each depot to maintain the flow of buses. They work in cooperation with the Department of Sanitation to keep bus routes clear and passable. Buses will be equipped when necessary with weather-appropriate tire chains.<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· Metro-North Railroad and Long Island Rail Road will deploy fleets of snow and ice-busting equipment to keep outdoor tracks, third rails and catenary wires clear of snow and ice during harsh winter weather. Track switches will be treated with antifreeze and switch heaters will be turned on to keep switches moving freely so trains can continue to be routed from one track to another. Outdoor steps at all commuter rail stations will be pretreated to prevent snow and ice build-up and shoveled as necessary. More than 3,000 staff will be on call, ready to operate equipment from snow blowers and chainsaws to heavy trucks and front-end loaders. Equipment includes jet engines mounted on rail cars to blow snow from tracks at high speeds. <br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· MTA Bridges & Tunnels is fitting plows onto regular maintenance trucks and salt domes are being filled with tons of deicer. The fleet also includes 45 trucks that have special ground temperature sensors, which provide information about roadway conditions on entrance and exit ramps and other areas that are not covered by embedded roadway sensors. Above-ground atmospheric sensors are also used to help gather real-time information on wind velocity, wind direction, humidity and precipitation via wireless communication. In addition, the scheduled weekend-long closure at the Queens Midtown Tunnel for post-Sandy construction work has been cancelled due to the impending storm.<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />In addition, Bridges and Tunnels has on hand:<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />o Nearly 7,500 tons of deicer on hand;<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />o Fleet of 98 snow and ice-fighting vehicles;<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />o Fleet comprised of vehicles that do double-duty, serving as regular maintenance trucks during normal weather and snow plows and conveyors when in snow fighting mode;<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />o Some 45 vehicles equipped with ground temperature sensors that tell personnel if the roadway is in danger of freezing. The operator then spreads additional deicer where it is needed and;<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />o MTA crossings also have imbedded roadway sensors and above-ground atmospheric sensors that deliver real-time information on wind velocity, wind direction, humidity and precipitation. These sensors record data used to determine if speed restrictions are necessary to keep the nearly 800,000 vehicles that use the MTA’s 7 bridges and 2 tunnels daily. <br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />o Some 175 additional staff on duty throughout the storm.</div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin-top: 0.75em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Port Authority</strong><br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· The Port Authority is putting steps in place in preparation for the first major winter snowstorm of the year. The agency is deploying extra personnel at its facilities and assembling snow equipment in advance of the wintry conditions expected to hit the region on Friday and into Saturday morning.<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· The Port Authority will deploy additional staff at its airports, seaports, tunnels, bridges PATH system and bus terminals. Key personnel are already on notice to work overnight to monitor conditions at each of the agency’s facilities. <br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· Preparations for the approaching storm include fueling all vehicles, ensuring fully stocked salt supplies, and having snowplows, shovels and other snow equipment at the ready. The Port Authority’s winter weather arsenal includes:<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />o More than 200 snow and ice equipment at its airports, including melters that can liquefy up to 500 tons of snow an hour and plows that can clear snow at 40 mph;<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />o Approximately 60 pieces of snow equipment at the bridges and tunnels, including 28 trucks equipped with plows and spreaders at the George Washington Bridge, the world’s busiest vehicular crossing; <br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />o More than 2,000 tons of salt and more than 1,500 tons of sand for airport roads and parking lots, plus more than 2,000 tons of salt for the bridges and tunnels, specifically 500 tons of salt at the George Washington Bridge and 200 tons at the Holland Tunnel;<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />o Approximately 300,000 gallons of liquid anti-icer chemicals at the airports, which prevent snow and ice from bonding to runways and taxiways, plus approximately 1,700 tons of solid de-icers, which break up snow and ice already on the ground;<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />o Plow-equipped trains, liquid snow-melting agent trains and a “jet engine” plow to remove snow from tracks, and snow blowers. Plows and spreaders to clear station entrances, roads that serve PATH’s 13 stations, and various support facilities; and<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />o Approximately 1,000 staff members and contractors with years of specialized training and professional experience in handling severe winter weather at transportation facilities.<br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· The Port Authority urges travelers to check with their carriers before going to the airport or bus terminals to confirm departure times. The agency also may impose speed restrictions on its crossings if weather conditions warrant.</div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin-top: 0.75em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Department of Transportation:</strong><br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· NYSDOT has more than 1,270 plow trucks and 1,582 drivers standing by to pre-treat roadways with salt brine in advance of the storm and clear snow and ice once precipitation begins. <br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· NYSDOT also has 366,500 tons of road salt on hand. <br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· Travelers are encouraged to check conditions before venturing out by accessing NYSDOT’s free 511NY traffic and travel information system, which provides real-time travel information, by calling 511 or visiting www.511NY.org. The website features a winter travel advisory system, with real-time travel reports and a color-coded map indicating which state roads are snow covered, ice covered, wet, dry, or closed to help drivers determine if travel is advisable. The system provides real-time snow and ice conditions for interstates and other heavily traveled roads, as reported by snowplow operators.</div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin-top: 0.75em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">State Police</strong><br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· The New York State Police have a full complement of troopers and supervisors assigned to all shifts in preparation of a winter storm approaching the region. Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Unit and Traffic Incident Management team members will be used to supplement normal patrol coverage. <br style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />· State Police are working closely and coordinating with local County Emergency Operations Centers across the state as needed and are prepared for the potential increase in service calls for evacuations and medical emergencies.</div></blockquote><br /></div>

NYC Severe Weather Advisory In Effect For NYC

Photograph of Mayor Bloomberg briefing reporters at a Department of Sanitation facility on the West Side of Manhattan by DSNYFrom:http://gothamist.comWith the Nemo Blizzard Warning beginning at 6 a.m. on Friday, preceded by cellphone carriers sending…

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