"Hey Haters" - An Analysis of Steven Furtick's Volunteer Confidentiality Agreement - Don't Criticize, or You Agree to a Restraining Order

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3DbWlHRmiIHAb6hoBlJ9ATEMRoPXWYZBhoTXi9tYwMhYD8fYa9rJAlVV8JCxymKOaaxU1u7BPcAsO5l_x6P-gz-R3b1HXnZcX1PpJOvOYSrpJx7i8LEbJuZUvbUTtl7UGq7_ecStLyx2x/s1600/ConfidentialityAgreement.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3DbWlHRmiIHAb6hoBlJ9ATEMRoPXWYZBhoTXi9tYwMhYD8fYa9rJAlVV8JCxymKOaaxU1u7BPcAsO5l_x6P-gz-R3b1HXnZcX1PpJOvOYSrpJx7i8LEbJuZUvbUTtl7UGq7_ecStLyx2x/s400/ConfidentialityAgreement.png" width="400" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7OZcagV4qS9g2N_8KrHTSvxLOmCI8IWxObBcS9dqyq8mEmFtHcCbBchpLr9o5j51MiDSAwVH4UFfmHVZXNIbDoL94f1aMhIzu-LiGTN4ewcF1ywH1M1PpwKV2NOTCAXE55M83Kjk_nxee/s1600/ConfidentialityAgreement.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i>"I acknowledge that my breach of any of the restrictive covenants in this Agreement <span style="color: red;">will result in irreparable damage to the Church</span>. Therefore, in the event of any breach or threatened breach by me, I agree that <span style="color: red;">the Church shall be entitled to an injunction from a court of competent jurisdiction enjoining me from committing any violation or threatened violation of this Agreement</span>. I further agree that the Church shall not be required to post a bond to obtain such an injunction. All remedies available to the Church by reason of a breach by me of this Agreement are cumulative, none is exclusive, and all remedies may be exercised concurrently or consecutively at the Church’s option."</i>  Concluding paragraph of contract volunteers must sign at Steven Furtick's church.</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>----------------------------------------</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Note from the WD:  I don't ordinarily write such long posts, but I wanted to write this post for the benefit of Elevation Church members so they know what great peril they are in if they sign the document about which this article is written.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>--------------------------</i></div>Hey Haters!!!  Steven <a href="http://fbcjaxwatchdog.blogspot.com/2011/03/crybaby-pastors-part-3-steven-furtick.html" target="_blank">"Hey Haters"</a> Furtick and his <a href="http://elevationchurch.org/" target="_blank">Elevation Church</a> have taken us to a new low in church manipulation:  Furtick's church volunteers must agree not to disclose any information about the church pertaining to finances, member contact information, and "church research and development activities" (church "R and D"? Are you kidding me?) - <u><b>or the church may seek a restraining order issued by a judge to prevent you from talking about the church</b></u>.<br /><br />Thanks to the <a href="http://thewartburgwatch.com/2013/04/04/elevation-church-and-steven-furtick-volunteer-to-be-sued/" target="_blank">Wartburg Watch post last night</a>, this brazen attempt at manipulation of their members by Elevation Church is now out in the open for all to see - <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/qed1hegtmh54wmp/Confidentiality%20Agreement%20Form.%20pdf.pdf" target="_blank">click here to take a gander</a> at the actual agreement. This document's exposure on the blogosphere hopefully will be another example of a church thinking they will abusively squelch dissent behind the scenes with no one knowing; not realizing their attempts may backfire when light is shone on their scheme (by us "haters"), giving people a glimpse of just how rotten and full of themselves the leadership is. <br /><br />This goes well beyond just manipulation of members. By asking volunteers to sign this document puts well-meaning members of Elevation Church at great legal peril. If the church perceives a member is violating any terms of this document by publicly criticizing the church over finances - or even publicly disclosing abuse within the walls of the church - the church will consider them to have done "irreparable damage" to "the Church", and the church will seek a court injunction against the member.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Members of Elevation Church who might sign this or have already signed this agreement, I cannot urge you strongly enough: do NOT sign this, and if you have, send in writing a request rescinding your agreement to a<span style="font-size: large;">ll </span>terms of the agreement. </b></span></i></div><br />Members, do you know what this means when you sign this document and thereby agree that Furtick's church "shall be entitled to an injunction" against you? This means if Furtick and Friends believe you've talked bad about the church, or shared financial information about the church - or even raised allegations of abuse in the church rightly or wrongly - <u><b>you have agreed that the church is entitled to have a judge issue a restraining order against you to silence you</b></u>. And if you breach this restraining order and don't comply, you will be held in contempt of court.<br /><br />The church can go to a judge with this document, and will show it and say that this member agreed NOT to release "confidential information", and make the case to the judge that you AGREED to have the judge issue a restraining order against you. Then if you violate it, you can be arrested for being in contempt of court. <br /><br />Below are three arguments explaining why this is dangerous for you to sign this document, and how signing this document may require you at some point to violate your own Christian teachings and principles or be in great legal jeopardy - and how this is all designed to silence the "haters" - that is people who publicly criticize pastors like Steven Furtick.:<br /><br /><u><b>Getting an Injunction from a Judge Against You</b></u><br />This document is basically saying if the church believes you are disclosing information that THEY think is harmful to the church, that YOU agree to have a judge issue an injunction - which really is a temporary restraining order to stop you from doing what they perceive to be harmful to them. And it is not just that you HAVE disclosed information harmful to them, but if they BELIEVE YOU WILL IN THE FUTURE.<br /><br />For example, if you are found to criticize the church publicly, say on a blog or Facebook like Chris Tynes did at Prestonwood - for any reason you deem worthy of criticism - Furtick and friends they may then believe you will disclose other "confidential information" like financial information such as salaries or budgets or future plans of the church.  They may also assume that you will use your contacts at the church to spread your "gossip". They will then go to the judge and show the judge that you agreed to have the restraining order issued against you to silence you against further spread of "confidential information".<br /><br />Notice the agreement does define what is "confidential information" that you are not to share, but their definition includes the <i>"...but is not limited to"</i> phase - so basically confidential information would mean any non-publicly available information they think would be harmful. This could be information at a business meeting, a personal conversation you have with another member or pastor, etc.<br /><br />If you contest this restraining order because you don't want to have a judge order you to be silent, then you will have to hire a lawyer and go to a hearing in a court to argue your side.<br /><br />If you lose and the restraining order is issued and you don't comply with the judge's restraining order as a matter of conscience, you may be held in contempt of court and arrested and imprisoned.<br /><br /><i><b>Sounds so much like the New Testament church in Acts, doesn't it? This is a complete reversal of New Testament church activity: instead of Christians being persecuted for speaking the truth, the church (Furtick's church) is now attempting to be the persecutor of believers who may in the future dare to speak the truth about their church.</b></i><br /><br /><u><b>Church Disagreements or Church Abuse</b></u><br />Suppose you believe the church is acting abusively toward someone and you have made every attempt to raise the issue with church leadership privately to no avail- or if you fear going to them privately  - and you attempt to blog about what is going on in the church to warn others. Or maybe you just have a disagreement over how money is spent or even a theological disagreement.<br /><br />If the information you share is "confidential" as in not publicly available - then they can go to the court and argue for an injunction that you agreed to when you signed the agreement.<br /><br />Notice that the agreement states about the injunction:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i><b>"I further agree that the Church shall not be required to post a bond to obtain such an injunction."</b></i></blockquote>Under normal circumstances a party seeking a judge to issue an injunction or restraining order to have someone stop doing something deemed harmful to the plaintiff, the plaintiff must put up a "bond" of some value in case the injunction is found to have been wrongly issued and brings harms to the defendant!  Makes perfect sense to keep organizations from seeking injunctions left and right. But the church is attempting to make this so one-sided that they don't want to have to put up their precious money to back up their claim that you are harming them. Who does such crap, and ask people who are offering to volunteer their time to agree to it?<br /><br />Has any employer - let alone a non-profit for which you are trying to volunteer your time - asked you to sign such one-sided legal nonsense? What are they afraid of? What is so precious and secret over at Elevation Church that they must ask all employees and volunteers to sign this?<br /><br />I can tell you: this is the sign of a cult. They are trying to silence you and intimidate you from publicly criticizing them. It is no secret how much Furtick and friends despise the "haters" who criticize their God-anointed efforts to save the world.<br /><br /><u><b>Give as Little Information as Possible </b></u><br /><br />Elevation members, this might be the worst part, where they do tell you that you are allowed to disclose information about the church if required by law.  <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b><i>"However, this provision shall not preclude me...from any disclosure required by law or court order, so long as I provide the Church immediate written notice of any potential disclosure pursuant to this subsection and take all reasonable and lawful steps to limit the extent of such disclosure."</i></b></blockquote> "Gee, thanks Steven, I'm glad you are allowing me the freedom to tell the truth to the police and other law authorities if I'm questioned about the church!!"<br /><br />But look at that statement. They are requiring employees and volunteers to provide written notification of any "potential disclosure" when required by law or court order!  Are you kidding? I have to FIRST tell the church before I talk to the authorities? What rubbish!!<br /><br />And why must I take "all reasonable and lawful steps to limit the extent of such disclosure?" <br /><br />That is just crazy. Imagine there is an investigation of child abuse at the church, and a detective wants to interview you about it. By law, you must tell the truth to the detective. But are you first to notify Steven and friends before disclosing confidential information? And why must you limit the extent of the disclosure?<br /><div style="text-align: center;">------------------------------------- </div><br />Anyways, this story is just another example of how these mega churches are too big for their britches. They want total devotion by the members, they want 10% minimum of your income (or God will curse you), and they want you to limit the disclosure of any information that might cast the organization in a negative light. They want you to sign a document forfeiting your legal rights to publicly criticize them. They want you to believe they are the single most important organization on the face of the earth, the one that is truly doing God's will. They require the head man to be viewed as being "the man of God" sent by God, appointed by God, and anointed by God, to tell you what the holy book says. They require you to admit that disclosure of information about what is going on within the organization regarding finances and strategy plans is to cause irreparable damage to the organization.<br /><br />That my friends, is the stuff cults are made out of.....but even David Koresh and James Jones weren't so stupid as to put it all in writing and make people sign it. This is not a Confidentiality Agreement - it is more of a "Drink the Kool Aid Commitment" that I hope no volunteer will ever sign.<br /><br />I've talked to a lawyer about this agreement, and he says it wouldn't likely stand up in court anyways. It is just an attempt to chill free speech. The church wants its members to know they have given their rights to talk freely over to their church, plain and simple.<br /><br />So Elevation members, throw put this confidentiality agreement where it belongs - in the trash can. Tell them to run their background check on you, but that you will sign no such confidentiality agreement. You are signing up to volunteer your precious hours to your church, not guard America's nuclear launch codes. And Elevation employees who must sign this as a condition to maintain your employment, I feel sorry for you. In the real world, no one would ever ask you to sign something so one-sided as a condition for employment. <br /><br />And watch Steven's <a href="http://fbcjaxwatchdog.blogspot.com/2011/03/crybaby-pastors-part-3-steven-furtick.html" target="_blank">"Hey Hater's"</a> performance one more time, and you'll see the heart from which such a document is spawned:<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NCW9-MglCsw" width="560"></iframe></div>

"Hey Haters" - An Analysis of Steven Furtick's Volunteer Confidentiality Agreement - Don't Criticize, or You Agree to a Restraining Order

"I acknowledge that my breach of any of the restrictive covenants in this Agreement will result in irreparable damage to the Church . T...

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Kew Breaking Ground

I'm glad to have just learned that a <a href="http://www.queenslibrary.org/event/groundbreaking-for-kew-gardens-hills-expansion">groundbreaking ceremony</a> for the Kew Garden Hills Library in Queens is <i>finally</i> taking place on April 19 at 1pm. The project is designed by <a href="http://www.work.ac/">WORKac</a>.<br /><br /><img alt="queens3.jpg" src="http://www.archidose.org/Blog/kew-workac.jpg" /><br />[Kew Garden Hills Library Expansion by WORKac | image <a href="http://work.ac/kew-gardens-hills-library/">source</a>]<br /><br />Here's what I wrote about the project in a <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2009/01/queens-builds.html">2009 post on projects in Queens</a>:<br /><blockquote>Another Queens Library project is the expansion of the <a href="http://www.queenslibrary.org/index.aspx?page_id=44&section_id=12&branch_id=KE">Kew Garden Hills Library</a> in Kew Garden Hills by <a href="http://work.ac/kew-gardens-hills-library/">WORKac</a>. I saw the project at a lecture by the firm's lead duo. Basically the expansion of the corner building occurs at the two street fronts, like wrapping a square with an "L" in plan. This wrapper is clad in a solid, undulating wall of concrete that is lifted at the corners to reveal storefront glazing below, letting light in and allowing views out. The concrete wall is low at the entrance to mark its location and provide a peek of the green roof above. The shallow, V-shaped section also creates clerestories over the existing roof, providing even more light into the open-plan of the library.</blockquote>My best educated guess would see the library reopening mid-to-late next year or early 2015.

Kew Breaking Ground

I'm glad to have just learned that a groundbreaking ceremony for the Kew Garden Hills Library in Queens is finally taking place on Apr...

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Google Mapping Contest investigating by Indian Police

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-o33aSO1Fxl5UC6ABKpJKvvEPpQL8qPtwvq9JDycP5B-QIo44UNVyW7kbvbQe9yKXnewqvRQ15vlgeUqEXu3lRgVDJAG7f3Td62AhGVqnGLNPZvnvlxlx2fY_GAageI5htr5Cun-uakY/s1600/Implement-GPS-data-for-your-Google-MAP.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-o33aSO1Fxl5UC6ABKpJKvvEPpQL8qPtwvq9JDycP5B-QIo44UNVyW7kbvbQe9yKXnewqvRQ15vlgeUqEXu3lRgVDJAG7f3Td62AhGVqnGLNPZvnvlxlx2fY_GAageI5htr5Cun-uakY/s320/Implement-GPS-data-for-your-Google-MAP.gif" width="320" /></a></div>Police in India ar investigation to see whether or not U.S. web company Google INC desecrated rules in an exceedingly competition that asked users to feature info concerning their native areas for its on-line map services once a administrative unit raised security considerations.<br /><br /><br />Police are functioning on a criticism filed by Survey of India, the country's national survey and mapping agency, that aforesaid the competition was extralegal and should threaten national security.<br /><br />Chhaya Sharma, a deputy commissioner of police in Indian capital. said that<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>"One criticism has been received and that we ar forwarding it to the cybercell for more action," </b></blockquote>Google officers said that<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"> <b>The corporate had not nevertheless received a politician communication from the police.</b></blockquote>Google invited users to assist "create higher maps for India" by adding data of their neighborhoods and secure the highest 1000 mappers prizes of tablets, smartphones and gift vouchers.<br /><br /> Padhi said that<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>"We need to make sure that security isn't compromised at any price, </b></blockquote>Paroma Roy Chowdhury, a corporation voice in India said that <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>Google is receptive discussing specific issues over the problem with public authorities in India,</b></blockquote> Roy Chowdhury  said that<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>"Google takes security and national rules terribly seriously, and also the Mapathon adhered to applicable laws,"</b></blockquote></div><br /><div style="background-color: #cccccc; border: thin solid #000000;"><table style="width: 100%;"> <tbody><tr> <td class="auto-style1" rowspan="2"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwq1TqeWf9-Gy7S135LTaOHSIQHvbajeZZw0nOINVBSyjn5XxCZOxJlgJcxESBAi5LDZZe-4FMuo_r2K4dEB8ndM79BG_fG7-tGVQ1xr4ZBHzXaUtpCslKV8sXGXVd3GGBvk8Hdh2MHuU/s200/jacob.jpg" style="height: 69px; width: 59px;" /></td> <td>About the author : <a href="https://plus.google.com/109838201058606610638" rel="author">Jacob </a>        <a href="http://pc-gadgetworld.blogspot.in/search/label/jacob">View All post by Jacob</a> </td> </tr><tr> <td><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">He is the co-founder and Chief Editor of pc-gadgetworld.blogspot.in. He is well known among his circle for his incredible attraction towards smartphones and tablets.Jacob is a DOTNET programmer and also a part-time Android App developer</span></td> </tr></tbody></table></div></div>

google jacob news Google Mapping Contest investigating by Indian Police

Police in India ar investigation to see whether or not U.S. web company Google INC desecrated rules in an exceedingly competition that asked...

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MAD MEN 6

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4qf4iUVQgI4rboQ7QhJLCcF-zFfYn72fqRgsIT88DI2-vzA_27H_LZRVW204bRgTvrN7NdKqaht7jFxt3ZH4-f5WXqPj0vI4cYETuvujmjcdc2a__SywB82MOjUM_Hbjet_6a_NqqySg/s1600/Season5finale.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4qf4iUVQgI4rboQ7QhJLCcF-zFfYn72fqRgsIT88DI2-vzA_27H_LZRVW204bRgTvrN7NdKqaht7jFxt3ZH4-f5WXqPj0vI4cYETuvujmjcdc2a__SywB82MOjUM_Hbjet_6a_NqqySg/s400/Season5finale.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">When <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mad Men </i>returned to the air waves (and all those second and third screens) last year, nearly 18 months had elapsed since the previous season. Die-hard fans like me barely survived the overlong wait. When the premiere date for season five was finally announced, I decided to celebrate with a month-long blog event. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sunday Night is Mad Men Night</i> was a joint effort with four blogger friends who each assessed the award-winning series from a different point of view:</span><br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">FlickChick, of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Person in the Dark</i>, contemplated past versus present through the authentic period detail the series is famed for with <a href="http://eves-reel-life.blogspot.com/2012/03/mad-men-now-and-then-and-back-again.html"><span style="color: red;">Mad Men: Now and Then and Back Again</span></a>.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Whistlingypsy, whose blog is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Distant Voices and Flickering Shadows</i>, took a thoughtful look at the series via some of its key female characters in <a href="http://eves-reel-life.blogspot.com/2012/03/feminine-mystique-of-mad-men.html"><span style="color: red;">The Feminine Mystique of Mad Men</span></a>.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Christian Esquevin, author of <u>Adrian: Silver Screen to Custom Label</u> and the blog <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Silver Screen Modiste</i>, reflected on the series through its iconic <a href="http://eves-reel-life.blogspot.com/2012/03/mad-men-style.html"><span style="color: red;">Mad Men Style</span></a>.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Motorcycle Boy, a contributor to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Lady Eve’s</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Reel Life</i>, gazed into <a href="http://eves-reel-life.blogspot.com/2012/03/mad-men-through-glass-darkly.html"><span style="color: red;">Mad Men: Through a Glass Darkly</span></a>, linking the series narrative and its themes to the roots of addiction.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">My own piece was a wide-ranging <a href="http://eves-reel-life.blogspot.com/2012/04/meditation-on-mad-men.html"><span style="color: red;">Meditation on Mad Men</span></a>.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">And now that <i>Mad Men</i> 6 is about to begin it is perhaps a good time to look back at where season five ended...and consider where the new season may take us.</span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jtjouGa8_Z0" width="560"></iframe><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLQFz2CTI3WpCMX11iaVp8DEaLJz_n6SB8WTVk7lqaQTb9YyrO3uNNx7hsGvH_bnc_MbeMW5EiQXaGwoh3ZRErI6l8cgTSlVVYPd5IYXTRHXtIsTE4G8hss5UVej39LJ7SdgvLuhMQ47E/s1600/3in1MM6_opt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLQFz2CTI3WpCMX11iaVp8DEaLJz_n6SB8WTVk7lqaQTb9YyrO3uNNx7hsGvH_bnc_MbeMW5EiQXaGwoh3ZRErI6l8cgTSlVVYPd5IYXTRHXtIsTE4G8hss5UVej39LJ7SdgvLuhMQ47E/s400/3in1MM6_opt.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Top: The Francis and Draper families, season 6; lower left, Peggy on her own; lower right, three partners</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/I03g36sbU8Y" width="560"></iframe></div>

Mad Men The Lady Eve (author) MAD MEN 6

When Mad Men returned to the air waves (and all those second and third screens) last year, nearly 18 months had elapsed since the previous s...

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Medical Emergencies at 40,000 Feet - Celine Gounder - The Atlantic

<base href="data:"><div style="color: black; text-align: left; "><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; 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; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">I was asleep, the plane dark as we flew over the Atlantic on our way from Johannesburg to São Paulo, when a familiar page came over the intercom: "Ladies and gentlemen, sorry to wake you. If there is a doctor on board, please hit your call button."</font></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; 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; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">This wasn't the only time my sleep had been disturbed for a sick passenger. The first time was on a flight from Chennai to Frankfurt. I was still a medical resident and, as I slid out of my seat to help, I realized that I had no idea what medications, equipment, or assistance, if any, I would find. While relieved that it was nothing serious -- just a passenger who didn't feel well after mixing sedatives and alcohol -- I couldn't believe that no one else volunteered to help.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; 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; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">This time I was escorted to see a middle-aged obese Brazilian man. He was sweaty and dizzy, his shirt unbuttoned, his hands trembling. Another passenger helped translate. She told me that he was diabetic and had taken his medications that day. I checked his blood sugar with his glucometer and saw that it was normal. Then I checked his blood pressure -- no small challenge to do over the hum of the engines -- and was alarmed to find it very low. I nervously rechecked it, but it was again low, perhaps due to heart failure in the setting of a heart attack, or maybe a severe infection, or possibly internal bleeding. I went through the medical kit that the flight attendant had brought, gave him an aspirin and pulled out the IV kit. He needed fluids to support his blood pressure until we could land. Repeatedly I tried to place an IV in each arm and hand, growing more and more frustrated, but I simply couldn't locate a vein. At the hospital where I worked, I would have turned to a nurse for help -- any doctor will tell you that nurses are better at placing IVs -- but here I was alone. A flight attendant brought me hot towels to wrap around his arms to bring out his veins, but to no avail.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; 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; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">I sat with him, the oxygen cylinder that the flight attendant had also brought him between my legs, for the next several hours -- so much for getting any sleep. I coaxed him to drink water since I couldn't give him fluids intravenously while checking his blood pressure repeatedly. It was still low but stable. I was afraid that I might have to perform CPR on him if his blood pressure dropped further. How would we get him out of his seat and flat on the floor if it came to that? I asked the flight crew to have an ambulance waiting for us at the gate. As we prepared for landing, a flight attendant took back the oxygen tank. I protested, but she told me that it would be unsafe to leave it with us during the landing. Once on the ground, the flight crew allowed the other passengers to deplane first, even after I reminded them that their passenger might have a life threatening illness. By the time I helped the man off the aircraft, there were still no medical personnel at the gate to receive us. I was appalled.</font></p><p align="center" style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; 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; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">***</font></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; 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; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Over the past seven years, I have responded to five in-flight medical events, three of which were true emergencies. It's estimated that a medical event of some sort occurs once for every 10,000 to 40,000 passengers on intercontinental flights. Information about these incidents is limited by underreporting, variable data quality, and the inability to determine what happens to patient-passengers when they leave the plane. In the United States, an airline is only required to report an incident to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) when a passenger dies or if the plane is diverted due to a death or medical emergency.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; 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; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">What we do know is that more Americans are flying than ever before: U. S. airlines alone transported 732 million passengers last year and by 2024 that number is expected to increase to 1 billion. At the same time an aging population means many passengers are taking to the skies with more medical problems. The result is an increase in in-flight medical incidents -- an upward trend that raises new questions about what ought to happen when a passenger falls ill while in transit.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; 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; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Flying is stressful on the body. We carry heavy luggage over long distances between terminals, rushing to make our flights. We cross time zones, which may complicate our medication schedules. Some of us are afraid of flying or just see it as an opportunity to tune out the world and relax, and so drink alcohol or take sedatives.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; 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; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">While most medical emergencies occur due to pre-existing medical conditions or an acute illness, the aircraft itself can contribute to health problems. The cabin environment, which is pressurized to the equivalent of 6,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level, causes a 10 percent drop in blood oxygen saturation in the average traveler. Doctors generally advise healthy patients who are traveling to high-altitude destinations to allow at least a day at 8,000 feet to acclimatize before ascending further. Unfortunately many physicians aren't fully aware of the risks of flying, especially for their patients with chronic diseases. (If you can walk fifty yards at a normal pace or climb one flight of stairs without chest pain or significant shortness of breath, you are probably okay to fly without supplemental oxygen.)</font></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; 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; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Common in-flight medical events include dizziness, fainting, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, shortness of breath, chest pain, palpitations, and headaches. Of course sometimes things get more serious. Heart attacks, other cardiovascular problems, seizures, and strokes are the most frequent in-flight medical emergencies requiring diversion of an aircraft. I have attended to two passengers with low blood pressure, a passenger who didn't feel well after taking Valium and drinking alcohol, a passenger who lost consciousness, and a flight attendant with chest pain and shortness of breath. On one occasion, we had to divert the plane for an unscheduled landing. On another, I was asked to come into the cockpit to speak with the ground medical team.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; 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; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">The FAA requires flight crews be trained to coordinate the response to medical emergencies, to use first aid kits, to be familiar with the contents of the emergency medical kit, to use an automated external defibrillator, and to perform CPR. But flight crews also rely heavily on the assistance of health care providers aboard the aircraft. Studies by the airlines and ground-based medical support services have found that a health care provider is available and responds in upwards of 80 percent of in-flight medical events. The truth is, though, that many health care providers find themselves attending to issues they don't see in their medical practices, and most have no specialist knowledge about aviation medicine or the medical resources aboard the plane. If asked, many health care providers will volunteer to help, especially if no one else is available, and this can lead to problems.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; 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; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">While returning from an international malaria conference, Dr. Michelle Hsiang, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at the University of California San Francisco, attended to an elderly man suffering from diarrhea and dehydration on a twelve-hour flight from Sri Lanka to London. She was uncomfortable caring for an adult patient with several long-standing medical problems. "I'm a pediatrician, so I'm not used to taking care of adults," she said. "I think it's funny that they call for any physician since many are not board-certified to provide the kind of care that is needed."</font></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; 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; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Health care providers may also not be prepared to respond to an emergency because they board the plane as passengers rather than doctors. Like others they may take sedatives to help them sleep or consume alcoholic beverages. Dr. Larry Chang, an infectious diseases specialist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, explained how this has impacted him: "I never take sedatives on flights because I feel like on almost every other international flight they ask if there's a doctor on board."</font></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; 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; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: center; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">***</font></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; 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; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Sometimes the inconvenience to the physician-traveler can be more onerous. Dr. Hsiang said, "Usually when I've been on other flights, they let the person who is ill off the plane first. But [on one occasion] they left me with [a patient] until the very end. It was an international flight, so it took an hour for people to get off the plane. I had to wait with him as if I was his nurse." When she and the sick passenger finally got off the plane in London, there was no one there to meet them (an experience not unlike my own). Dr. Hsiang waited with the passenger for another hour. When medical help failed to arrive, she finally advised him to continue drinking fluids until he no longer felt light-headed when walking.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; 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; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Health care providers responding to in-flight medical events and emergencies are protected under the 1998 U. S. Aviation Medical Assistance Act, which states that persons providing assistance in the case of an in-flight medical emergency are not liable for their actions unless they are guilty of gross negligence or willful misconduct. But many health care providers worry about their responsibility, if not their liability, and some may be reticent to help in an unfamiliar environment, outside of their area of expertise. They are also subject to the same inconveniences as other passengers if the aircraft needs to be diverted.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; 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; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Volunteer health care providers also report widely variable assistance from the flight crew when responding to in-flight medical events. Dr. Lisa Rosenbaum, a cardiologist at the University of Pennsylvania, was asked to help when a pregnant woman started having regular contractions on a flight from Boston to Portland, Oregon. She advised an emergency landing, but like many volunteer health care providers, she was frustrated later by not knowing if the woman had delivered safely. "The flight crew was awesome," and she told me, "I got a card a couple months later from one of the flight attendants saying that the passenger had delivered safely after they landed, and that she and the baby were doing okay. I had no way of following up. It was so lovely that she took the time to write me a card."</font></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; 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; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">In addition, when more than one health care provider responds to an in-flight event, there may be disagreement over how best to manage it. Dr. Julien Pham, a nephrologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, once found himself at odds with another volunteer who told the flight crew that the passenger seemed fine based on a cursory assessment. Meanwhile Dr. Pham remained concerned after having interviewed and examined the passenger, and he continued to check in on him periodically throughout the flight.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; 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; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">The FAA, which stipulates the medical supplies that airliners must have on board, last updated its regulations in 2001 to mandate that the majority of U. S. registered commercial aircraft carry automated external defibrillators (AEDs), which may be used to shock the heart back into a normal rhythm, and that some additional medications and equipment be added to the medical kits. The required medications include: a non-narcotic pain killer; IV fluids for dehydration or low blood pressure; an antihistamine to treat allergic reactions; an inhaler for asthma; aspirin and nitroglycerin for a heart attack; IV dextrose for low blood sugar; epinephrine for allergic reactions or asthma; and epinephrine, atropine, and lidocaine as an adjunct to CPR. The kits must also contain a stethoscope and a manual blood pressure cuff as well as some other supplies.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; 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; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">In the case of my Brazilian passenger, it would have been helpful to have a digital blood pressure cuff so that I wouldn't have had to struggle to listen for his blood pressure over the sound of the plane's engines. A digital blood pressure cuff would also allow a layperson to check blood pressure. Ideally, I would have had an oxygen saturation monitor when responding to the passengers with chest pain, low blood pressure or loss of consciousness; one might argue that you could give them supplemental oxygen, but when you're flying over an ocean and can't land for a few more hours, you want to get a better sense for the cause of a patient's symptoms. I have had to overhead page for a passenger willing to lend me their glucometer and test strips to check a patient's blood sugar, and I have found that the emergency medical kit may not include insulin. Passengers may become dehydrated from vomiting and diarrhea, but oral rehydration solutions, essentially highly concentrated versions of sports drinks, which are easier to administer in flight than intravenous fluids if the passenger can drink, are not usually available. Granted, space aboard aircrafts is at a premium, and it's unrealistic to expect that an aircraft be equipped like an emergency room. Based on my own experience, I'd drop the requirement for medications like lidocaine and atropine and items like arm and leg splints in favor of tools to obtain basic vital signs and to stabilize and treat common medical events.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; 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; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">While the FAA has no plans to review its requirements, a consortium of organizations including the International Civil Aviation Organization, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), and the Aerospace Medical Association are currently working with experts in emergency medicine to review their recommendations for what the kits contain. Regardless of whether changes are made to the kits, they will only be useful if the responding health care provider is made aware of their contents. In the case of my Brazilian passenger, I could have used an AED to monitor his heart rhythm, but I wasn't informed that there was an AED on board.</font></p><p align="center" style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; 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; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">***</font></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; 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; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">In addition to the goodwill of travelling physicians, all the major carriers in the U.S. have, for at least the past decade, also relied on ground-based physicians and nurses with experience in emergency care and additional training in aviation medicine. Based at centers including MedAire in Phoenix, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's STAT-MD program, the Mayo Clinic Aerospace Medicine program, and sometimes an airline's internal medical department, these experts work with the flight crew and volunteer health care providers on board over radio or satellite telephone to assess and stabilize sick passengers, to guide the decision whether to divert the airplane, and to organize the medical response on the ground. According to Dr. Paulo Alves, the vice president for aviation and maritime health at MedAire, these professional services are essential if we hope to provide passengers with a consistent level of care. "I don't think that it's professional to rely on health care providers to volunteer their assistance," he said. Handling a potential emergency, Alves says, takes more than just a physician's skills, it also requires "a good grasp of how to manage a medical situation in a resource-limited environment."</font></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; 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; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">The trouble is, volunteer health care providers are often unaware they can turn to ground-based medical support services for help. I wasn't myself until recently. Having the support of ground-based medical services would have alleviated much of my anxiety about potentially having to "code" my Brazilian passenger in a difficult, unfamiliar environment, and they could also have helped coordinate a more appropriate response on the ground.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; 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; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">According to Dr. Claude Thibeault, medical advisor to the IATA, "If you are caught in a medical emergency on-board, the first thing you should do is to ask if the airline has access to ground medical support. If so, then ask the flight attendant to call them immediately." Unfortunately, studies have also shown that volunteer health care providers are much less likely to make use of these services than are the flight crew, and not necessarily for the better. I would suggest an even more proactive approach: the flight crew should call ground-based medical support services whenever they page for a health care provider on board the airplane. This would ensure that initial steps are taken to assess and stabilize the passenger in a more systematic way, that health care providers on board don't turn down the help for fear of appearing incompetent, and that accurate, detailed information on these events is collected consistently.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; 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; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">In addition, volunteer health care providers divert planes for medical events more frequently and unnecessarily (as measured by rates of hospitalization after landing) than other responders. Diversions are inconvenient for passengers, potentially dangerous depending on where the aircraft lands, and costly to airlines. An emergency landing of a domestic flight may cost an airline about $30,000, while that of an international flight, $70,000 to $230,000.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; 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; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Only one of the medical events to which I have responded resulted in an unplanned landing. My husband and I were on a flight from Atlanta to Tucson over the holidays when a man sitting across the aisle from us slumped in his seat. The flight crew asked me whether we needed to land. I really didn't know how to respond and was more focused on trying to attend to the passenger. I was relieved that the crew went ahead and decided to land emergently in Houston.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; 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; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Ultimately, how airlines respond to in-flight medical emergencies is an important measure of their customer service, and one of which we would do well to be aware.</font></p><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'"><br></font></div></div><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/04/medical-emergencies-at-40-000-feet/274623/?utm_source=Daily+Newsletter"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/04/medical-emergencies-at-40-000-feet/274623/?utm_source=Daily+Newsletter</font></a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

Medical Emergencies at 40,000 Feet - Celine Gounder - The Atlantic

I was asleep, the plane dark as we flew over the Atlantic on our way from Johannesburg to São Paulo, when a familiar page came over the inte...

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let's play hooky

Spring has finally arrived so I'm off to play hooky today. I'm wrapping up two client projects this weekend and I'll have a surprise to share on Monday (tease). Follow along on <a href="http://instagram.com/littleblackdoor/" target="_blank">instagram</a> for sneak peaks.<br /><br />But for now, I'm off to enjoy some time with these two crazy girls.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeAcY6gc95Rp2qWL6tmz7egBHBeoSleqHFBoO8Y1I-CGbrSBnr7XgiS5yA2aYSCpqW4xyPRKVSS0tM95rB9BzDgg28JuuF1G2hNsMiIXWdeu_sjcvJYbX4SAB0g2ftOUYzscalVijOeh2p/s1600/ladieswholunch2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeAcY6gc95Rp2qWL6tmz7egBHBeoSleqHFBoO8Y1I-CGbrSBnr7XgiS5yA2aYSCpqW4xyPRKVSS0tM95rB9BzDgg28JuuF1G2hNsMiIXWdeu_sjcvJYbX4SAB0g2ftOUYzscalVijOeh2p/s400/ladieswholunch2.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />I'll see y'all back here on Monday. Have a great weekend!<br /><br />

let's play hooky

Spring has finally arrived so I'm off to play hooky today. I'm wrapping up two client projects this weekend and I'll have a surp...

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Bikram book

Just started reading this book about Bikram Yoga.<br /><br />From reading the first few pages it seems like it is going to be very good!!<br /><br />And waiting at home for me is a Bikram CD so I can practice at home. A fun weekend is in store! <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyu0Mxsf2j3DW9wbkoS1g3IUHGyTYUF1S0IaiDj5XE1mQaLizCWxSK1ru4ATORot2mC8K_rSrtOarDMyko8MB3Vo2lhN4FZ76ZlvuO9b_PSHTtaQX8lFR3zB_4fwofMI7sPKPO_V0TCOys/s640/blogger-image-1144706879.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyu0Mxsf2j3DW9wbkoS1g3IUHGyTYUF1S0IaiDj5XE1mQaLizCWxSK1ru4ATORot2mC8K_rSrtOarDMyko8MB3Vo2lhN4FZ76ZlvuO9b_PSHTtaQX8lFR3zB_4fwofMI7sPKPO_V0TCOys/s640/blogger-image-1144706879.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwC9lEIGLLmP-S69b3TIOJEu7nHEj1rRtbSVSTMEBNrP-_UIuat6Bh1jIkV6dDShWb7xIBxGOA6c6Y53zSuYH62CnVWSOMuwrlkj9tR5Uox9S3P-akXJn2yBFfgJ90zMgczyqPKkweB3hK/s640/blogger-image--569779135.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwC9lEIGLLmP-S69b3TIOJEu7nHEj1rRtbSVSTMEBNrP-_UIuat6Bh1jIkV6dDShWb7xIBxGOA6c6Y53zSuYH62CnVWSOMuwrlkj9tR5Uox9S3P-akXJn2yBFfgJ90zMgczyqPKkweB3hK/s640/blogger-image--569779135.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij_oPN_1siTaYMfH7iZAcnj83_uPPserEMzFIcfBfJGKx_m4FYkygromwus9Rz1kL9kca2WXHo1zsDdPmGfn-_nlzGAhyKR6F_FXrv2xZh6tJSYwZ6jwUgwpWV_SuYYgqtd8ZZkXWHMzUE/s640/blogger-image--2095955827.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij_oPN_1siTaYMfH7iZAcnj83_uPPserEMzFIcfBfJGKx_m4FYkygromwus9Rz1kL9kca2WXHo1zsDdPmGfn-_nlzGAhyKR6F_FXrv2xZh6tJSYwZ6jwUgwpWV_SuYYgqtd8ZZkXWHMzUE/s640/blogger-image--2095955827.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdcT8VldgaeA42QOUrMW8eM6AgrZwqE3SjP1uSOc_lE_qba0giQcpQRCAi4bYduNnSXEybvyRdS24tYFLmECUze1Rf1ZfLY-5mubRdlfI8L0LZbRZ_-pLhMwYjkYmJyYWVv8MXUh3i88Gu/s640/blogger-image-1847005534.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdcT8VldgaeA42QOUrMW8eM6AgrZwqE3SjP1uSOc_lE_qba0giQcpQRCAi4bYduNnSXEybvyRdS24tYFLmECUze1Rf1ZfLY-5mubRdlfI8L0LZbRZ_-pLhMwYjkYmJyYWVv8MXUh3i88Gu/s640/blogger-image-1847005534.jpg" /></a></div>

Bikram book

Just started reading this book about Bikram Yoga. From reading the first few pages it seems like it is going to be very good!! And waiting a...

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Cuteness

My friends in the States have three adorable Yorkies.<br /><br />How cute are Lily, Gaga & Nimmy!<br /><br />The cat below is my sister's cat, big bold "Harry" - but he does look rather cute in his bandana! <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY6kcUN8QSyJHZNMaeOwjeya9VqwjRIXMfv9ZgihvN7JWgNAwmsEQfEmm_Ah3bNYq3hymHU8UmgHao2RPVbORRhpBE6ah3wgVa2gqR0CN9McEE904BwfbHtTVLRBFnWqkLxhhZl5iO4MBI/s640/blogger-image--1171894504.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY6kcUN8QSyJHZNMaeOwjeya9VqwjRIXMfv9ZgihvN7JWgNAwmsEQfEmm_Ah3bNYq3hymHU8UmgHao2RPVbORRhpBE6ah3wgVa2gqR0CN9McEE904BwfbHtTVLRBFnWqkLxhhZl5iO4MBI/s640/blogger-image--1171894504.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjrqrn__f04N0hb8Xhjis-3ZXxWHKbr8PNhlS8RkmcIMbJS4atvRTBvCFvfU-mPXNvE4czpCpvmz48MPoPPlHAYUm2qXJ7zTmLrcRk4mYieFsCFnNILxFaCnOML9r4swCSXM6RII4MwsKh/s640/blogger-image-1076296502.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjrqrn__f04N0hb8Xhjis-3ZXxWHKbr8PNhlS8RkmcIMbJS4atvRTBvCFvfU-mPXNvE4czpCpvmz48MPoPPlHAYUm2qXJ7zTmLrcRk4mYieFsCFnNILxFaCnOML9r4swCSXM6RII4MwsKh/s640/blogger-image-1076296502.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8DuAcwcfVGRdfMESd4-auUrYzdapOuvyyw0qqJk6Y9JwuOxWru3YqEn7TylJbqCUubQ1DeZI-YcRc0FI_kcn7RuDkEZlYXhPTDPLBytGmieBpUVQy7c6eQIAhreOkgo8-QU03CWlK2JFh/s640/blogger-image--335963689.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8DuAcwcfVGRdfMESd4-auUrYzdapOuvyyw0qqJk6Y9JwuOxWru3YqEn7TylJbqCUubQ1DeZI-YcRc0FI_kcn7RuDkEZlYXhPTDPLBytGmieBpUVQy7c6eQIAhreOkgo8-QU03CWlK2JFh/s640/blogger-image--335963689.jpg" /></a></div>

Cuteness

My friends in the States have three adorable Yorkies. How cute are Lily, Gaga & Nimmy! The cat below is my sister's cat, big bold &q...

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Lena Headey's divorce reveals 'Thrones' star's money problems

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="Lena Headey of "Game of Thrones"" src="http://www.trbimg.com/img-515deeee/turbine/lat-mg-lenaheadey-la0004896978-20120315/600" /><br /><span style="background-color: #f2f2f2; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px;">The divorce proceeding of Lena Headey ("Game of Thrones") sheds light on her financial grievances.</span><span class="credit" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px;">(<span class="photographer">Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times</span>)</span><br /><span class="credit" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px;"><span class="toolSet" style="background-color: white; display: inline-block; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-right: -50px; margin-top: 6px; width: 335px;"></span></span><br /><div class="byline" style="color: #292727; float: left; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;"><span class="byline" style="display: block;">By Nardine Saad</span><div class="date" style="color: #930000; font-size: 11px; font-style: italic; margin-top: 3px; padding: 0px;"><span class="dateString" style="display: inline;">April 4, 2013</span><span class="dateTimeSeparator" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: white; display: inline; font-size: 10px; letter-spacing: -1px; margin-left: 6px;">, </span><span class="timeString" style="display: inline; text-transform: lowercase;">3:40 p.m.</span></div></div><div class="clear" style="clear: both; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"></span><div id="story-body-text" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.43; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">Lena Headey, who plays the scheming Queen Regent Cersei Lannister on HBO's "Game of Thrones," is reportedly claiming she is broke, with "less than $5" in her bank account.</div><div class="p402_premium" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">Headey's financial situation came to light as a result of husband Peter Loughran's making an emergency court filing in their divorce proceedings, <a href="http://www.tmz.com/2013/04/04/queen-cersei-lena-headey-broke-divorce-bank-account/?adid=hero1" style="color: #2262cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">according to</a> TMZ.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">In July 2012, Headey, 39, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2179079/Game-Thrones-star-Lena-Headey-files-divorce-musician-husband-Peter-Paul-Loughran.html" style="color: #2262cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">filed for divorce</a> from Loughran, an Irish musician, after five years of marriage, citing "irreconcilable differences." They were married in 2007.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/gossip/la-et-mg-celebrity-splits-2013-20130305,0,5860129.photogallery" style="color: #2262cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><strong>PHOTOS: Celebrity splits of 2013</strong></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">Loughran in his emergency filing asked for half of their $46,000 tax refund from 2011. Headey then filed papers in response, claiming that she needs at least $6,000 from those joint funds in advance. Headey claimed that she's currently living on credit as she and her 2-year-old son Wylie Elliot are barely making ends meet, the site reported. She is also battling for child custody.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">The judge, however, reportedly denied Loughran's motion and tossed out Headey's proposal, which also included a provision to cover Loughran's living expenses with $6,000 from the refund. It is unclear how the issue will be resolved.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">It all seems a bit unusual since the premium cable channel's "Thrones," which premiered its third season last Sunday to record ratings, is one of the most popular shows on television.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">Headey is still reportedly expecting a payday in the near future.</div></div></div></div>

Lena Headey Lena Headey's divorce reveals 'Thrones' star's money problems

The divorce proceeding of Lena Headey ("Game of Thrones") sheds light on her financial grievances. ( Brian van der Brug / Los Ange...

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Chelsea Handler, Conan O'Brien in vicious, nude shower fight

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="conan handler 660.jpg" src="http://a57.foxnews.com/global.fncstatic.com/static/managed/img/Entertainment/660/371/conan%20handler%20660.jpg?ve=1" /><br /><br /><div style="border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Someone needs to learn how to lock a door. After her <a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/naked_sandra_bullock_slaps_chelsea_1hQmmwuAQ7YjJBFtASxjNP" rel="external ext-linked" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #183a52; cursor: pointer; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">naked shower fight with Sandra Bullock</a><img src="http://global.fncstatic.com/static/v/all/img/external-link.png" style="border: 0px none; margin: 4px 0px 0px 4px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />, Chelsea Handler got into a nude-and-crude scuffle with Conan O’Brien.</div><div style="border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In the comedic sketch, the late-night hosts trade barbs, then slaps, with each other.</div><div style="border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">O’Brien starts by accusing her of stealing his old “Tonight Show” space: “This is my studio – you stole it, remember? I still have the key. Plus this is the best water pressure in Los Angeles.”</div><div style="border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The video then takes a veiled dig at NBC’s announcement that Jimmy Fallon is taking over for Jay Leno. </div><div style="border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If you recall, O’Brien enjoyed a brief stint as “Tonight Show” host.</div><div style="border: 0px none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/UoZxfY_Lx50?rel=0" style="border-style: none; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="560"></iframe></div><span style="border: 0px none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /><br />Read more: <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/04/04/chelsea-handler-conan-obrien-in-vicious-nude-shower-fight/#ixzz2PYj7qngG" style="color: #003399; cursor: pointer; outline: none 0px; text-decoration: none;">http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/04/04/chelsea-handler-conan-obrien-in-vicious-nude-shower-fight/#ixzz2PYj7qngG</a></span></div>

Chelsea Handler Chelsea Handler, Conan O'Brien in vicious, nude shower fight

Someone needs to learn how to lock a door. After her  naked shower fight with Sandra Bullock , Chelsea Handler got into a nude-and-crude scu...

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URI lockdown ends, no evidence of gunman on campus

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">A building at the University of Rhode Island was cleared room-by-room Thursday as state police investigated -- then dismissed -- reports of a man with a gun in or around Chafee Hall on the Kingston campus.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"The Kingston campus lockdown has ended," the school reported on its Facebook page. "State police have cleared Chafee Hall. The investigation has revealed that at no time was there a gun or an active shooter on the campus."</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Classes already were canceled for the day, but the school announced that they would resume Friday. Transit buses that had been rerouted away from campus were resuming normal routes.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Earlier, the school had notified the campus community through its emergency alert system, the website, and e-mail to "Secure yourself indoors (not Chafee), stay there, and do not move about outside until further notice."</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">There were no reports of injuries or of shots fired, the website said. The university activated its Emergency Operations Center.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Chafee Hall houses several departments and some college administration offices.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Rhode Island State Police Superintendent Col. Steven O'Donnell had said earlier Thursday that a phone call was made from the URI campus reporting "an active shooter on campus." The school, South Kingstown police and state police responded, hel said.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"All of a sudden, we heard someone yell, 'You're a nice guy! You're a nice guy!' and sounding scared," said Tori Danielson, who was sitting in the back of a lecture hall in a class of more than 350 people in Chafee Hall. "Everybody started running and screaming out of the room, and our professor told us all to run. And everybody just ran out."</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Danielson said she did not hear gunshots and did not see anyone get hurt.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"I didn't hear anybody say that there was a weapon, and I didn't see if there was. I was too far away," she said.</div></div>

URI URI lockdown ends, no evidence of gunman on campus

A building at the University of Rhode Island was cleared room-by-room Thursday as state police investigated -- then dismissed -- reports of ...

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Facebook’s ‘Phone’ Is Another Triumph of Mediocrity

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img src="http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/gadgetlab/2013/04/zuck-announce-660x439.jpg" /><br /><span style="background-color: black; color: #dddddd; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;">Mark Zuckerberg poses with HTC CEO Peter Chou (left) and AT&T President & CEO Ralph de la Vega after today’s grand unveiling. </span><em style="color: #dddddd; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Photo: Alex Washburn/Wired</em><br /><em style="color: #dddddd; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></em><em style="color: #dddddd; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></em><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"><em style="color: #dddddd; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Maybe you were hoping for something radically new and different from a Facebook phone. If so, <a href="http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/04/facebook-android-home-phone/" style="color: #007ca5; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Zuck just broke your heart</a>. But so what. Facebook never does anything new. New doesn’t matter in the blue. What matters is this: What Mark Zuckerberg announced today runs software called Facebook Home that makes it easier for people to spend more time with Facebook. And that’s all he really needed to pull off.</em></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"><em style="color: #dddddd; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">In fact, the long rumored Facebook phone turned out not to be a phone at all. Or even a new OS or a fork of the Android operating system like Amazon’s Kindle Fire. It’s something more than an application, and slightly less than an operating system. As Wired.com editor Mark McClusky described it, Facebook Home is an “apperating system.” The genius of the Facebook phone is that the company made a phone without making a phone at all. It’s not overly ambitious. It’s not a big bet. And that’s why it may have such a huge payoff.</em></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"><em style="color: #dddddd; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Over the past few days, lots of pundits have been asking who this is for. Facebook gave us an answer today: It’s for people who don’t care about a rich, full experience on the Internet, yet love Facebook. People who want to run apps, but are overwhelmed by them. People who want to connect with friends and family, but want it to be super easy to do so. For many people, Facebook <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">is</em> the Internet, just as AOL was before it. And just as Facebook is the best way for them to experience the Internet in a browser, Facebook Home is going to be the best way for those people to experience the Internet on a phone.</em></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"><em style="color: #dddddd; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The product that Facebook chose to roll this out on, the HTC First, is at best a mid-tier device. But that’s OK. Thinking about it in the context of, say, chamfers or pixel density misses the point. This isn’t a product rollout designed for someone who cares about processor speeds. Hell, this isn’t a rollout designed for someone who knows what a processor is. Facebook simply needed to show something that makes it easy to connect, consume and share more content with your friends. It did that. That dive-into Facebook home screen is the only thing that matters — you don’t even have to unlock your screen to dig into social. So who cares if Facebook Home makes its debut on mediocre hardware? Certainly not the people who made Facebook a hit.</em></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"><em style="color: #dddddd; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Facebook itself is a triumph of mediocrity. It’s not the best communications platform; that’s Twitter or WordPress. It’s not the best photo sharing app; that’s Instagram or Flickr or maybe even Snapchat. It’s certainly not the best app platform, the best address book or the best messaging service. Likewise, it’s so easy to hate on Facebook for privacy policies, or the annoying ads, or for constantly rearranging things, or the things your crazy uncle posts there or, well, hell — take your pick. But Facebook is really, really good at connecting people. And that means it can be just OK at everything else.</em></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"><em style="color: #dddddd; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Like Facebook, your phone, at its most basic level, is designed to connect you with other people and deliver information. Like Facebook, it is a messaging system that also has applications. The first phone with Facebook Home doesn’t need to amaze. It just has to work. It just needs to prove that it’s good enough at letting you upload pictures of your kid, and good enough at letting your dad easily see pictures of his grandson, and good enough at reminding you that it’s Sam’s birthday and, hey, do you want to say happy birthday? “Happy Birthday, Sam!”</em></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"><em style="color: #dddddd; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Facebook Home, as Zuckerberg says, is built around people, not apps. <a href="http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/04/facebook-home-glossary/" style="color: #007ca5; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Chat Heads</a> personalize your conversations with constant visual reminders of who you are talking to. Updates from friends just magically appear on your lock screen. New messages trickle in while you read the news of the day. It’s your friendly companion, right on your lock screen. As long as it excels at connecting you with other people, and has a clean straightforward design that’s easy to use, it wins. I mean, look at how well that’s worked out for Facebook itself.</em></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"><em style="color: #dddddd; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">And most importantly, this thing is flexible. You can install it yourself, which means Facebook Home will run on at first a few, and then lots and lots of Android handsets. And there are an enormous and growing number of Android handsets out there, with more all the time.</em></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"><em style="color: #dddddd; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Android is already the world’s most dominant mobile OS. In the coming year there are going to be hundreds of millions of Android handsets sold, <a href="http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/02/mediatek/" style="color: #007ca5; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">many for next to nothing in the developing world</a>. At $100, the HTC First with Facebook Home is going to tempt a lot of people who love Facebook (AKA: the Easier Internet). The HTC First may be the first Android handset to come with Facebook Home loaded, but it certainly won’t be the last. Before long, you can bet you’ll be able to pick up a handset with Facebook Home pre-installed for free with a two year contract. (And while this is just a hunch, I suspect there is a strong correlation between people who want a “free” smartphone with people who really dig Facebook.)</em></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"><em style="color: #dddddd; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Will businesses take to it? Almost certainly not. No business, other than maybe Buzzfeed, wants its employees spending more time on Facebook. Will it be a hit with early adopters and the tech set? That’s laughable. No. Will millions of Americans just want a handset that can run Facebook? That seems like a bet I’d take.</em></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"><em style="color: #dddddd; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">You see, if you’re not already Facebook averse* there’s no real downside to Facebook Home. It’s just more software that makes it easier to do the things you already do without having to give anything up–other than your privacy but that’s a devil’s bargain you long ago forged with Zuck anyway.</em></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"><em style="color: #dddddd; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">There’s another thing Facebook is really good at too, and that’s tracking. And by all appearances this phone is good at that too. It’s going to know where you are, who you’re talking to and when, even what apps you’re running. All of which is great for Facebook, because ultimately Facebook wants to know every little thing it can about you so it can get you to click on some ads.</em></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"><em style="color: #dddddd; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Facebook Home doesn’t even have to be a hit. At least not right away. The important thing is that it’s out there, and it didn’t require a lot of up-front capital or R&D investment in hardware. It’s a better strategy than anything else the company has done in mobile. People who already really like Facebook will also like this. For people who live in Facebook, it may even drive them to buy one handset over another. Sometimes mediocre is all it takes.</em></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px;"><em style="color: #dddddd; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">*<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Maybe you should be</em>.</em></div></div>

Facebook’s ‘Phone Facebook’s ‘Phone’ Is Another Triumph of Mediocrity

Mark Zuckerberg poses with HTC CEO Peter Chou (left) and AT&T President & CEO Ralph de la Vega after today’s grand unveiling.  Photo...

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Shut the Fuck Up with Hank Philpot Episode 2

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKtX3Ft6zfUCCyDJ9iMIeXlV4X0iyMsnGqqwduqk0VDd8lZW-3iEZbJbGAWXAQXoAm_Sc-USmC7wvSRUj_cwKN_XCZtKyvEz7VvaZguOEpGsCYUXipHaN847cBllKbwe52iY5D-uNYKVQ/s1600/Angry-Man-Hank+Philpot+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKtX3Ft6zfUCCyDJ9iMIeXlV4X0iyMsnGqqwduqk0VDd8lZW-3iEZbJbGAWXAQXoAm_Sc-USmC7wvSRUj_cwKN_XCZtKyvEz7VvaZguOEpGsCYUXipHaN847cBllKbwe52iY5D-uNYKVQ/s400/Angry-Man-Hank+Philpot+(1).jpg" width="400" /></a>Hello.  Hank Philpot here.  I’m a friend of Matt-Man.  I was going off on some things the other day to him and he said I could write down my bitches about the world today on this blog thing.<br /><br />He told me that today, I could consider the IWS blog to be my, tablet razor or something like that.  I don’t know what he meant by that, but here I am….Hank Philpot.<br /><br />Now listen, this basketball coach at Rutgers, Mike Rice?  It seems he’s in a boatload of trouble.<br /><br />I guess he was trying to get his Scarlet Knights of Rutgers basketball team in shape for the season and he was too hard on the God Damn pansies.<br /><br />He threw basketballs at them…He pushed them…He called them faggots…Well let me tell you…<br /><br />My father used to beat me on the ass with a bolo paddle for calling my sister a whore, and my Drill Sergeant, Gunny Sarge Buck Masters used to stick a bayonet up my ass for being three seconds late to a drill.<br /><br />Don’t give me this, <i>“He was too hard on those basketball boys, shit.”</i>  Shut the Fuck Up!!<br /><br />Coach Rice just wanted them to be ready for when they played big time schools with darkies who play with one hand on the ball and another hand carrying a switchblade.<br /><br />If you can’t see that, well…you can’t see that your 12 year old is boy probably gonna turn out to be a gay bastard who views Rachel Maddow as the man that Chris Hayes wishes he could be.<br /><br />It’s just wrong, and if you don’t agree…<i>Shut the Fuck Up!!</i><br /><br />And now that I have invoked the names of people who appear on MSNBC have you seen the following..?<br /><br />Alex Wagner…Cute as hell…I’d take her down and pluck her in my chicken coop anytime, but man she opens her pretentious mouth, and I say, <i>“Shut the Fuck up.”</i><br /><br />And then there is Mika Brzezinski, liberal star of Morning Joe on MSNBC…Jesus Christ…That chick has been riding on the coat tails of her dad since, well…ever since her dad helped Jimmy Carter to become irrelevant.  But in all fairness, her dad has a thick accent so, that makes him smart.<br /><br />Mika has no accent, so….well…her stupidity shines through.  You know what I have to say about that?<br /><br />Mika?  You’re not bright!!  <i>So shut the fuck up!!</i><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicyAFqQI3Z34j5No4XjM7muumfvZNvMbJ972uB4Pwo4zKy6B_21Z_H7z_q8IVd6Al_m4HW_iO-hECLx556ZSOxasn-O6u6N2J66R8oi2BEH3VHB5uDcf5K0jk6mQh0oguYCnV2caavnYo/s1600/martin-bashir_msnbc-600_arrogance-stupidity-300x200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicyAFqQI3Z34j5No4XjM7muumfvZNvMbJ972uB4Pwo4zKy6B_21Z_H7z_q8IVd6Al_m4HW_iO-hECLx556ZSOxasn-O6u6N2J66R8oi2BEH3VHB5uDcf5K0jk6mQh0oguYCnV2caavnYo/s400/martin-bashir_msnbc-600_arrogance-stupidity-300x200.jpg" width="400" /></a>Oh people. Some are coming around to our gun-toting, God-Loving side…<br /><br />I was told by a devout quasi-Catholic, yet somewhat agnostic, religion reporting guy this week that he hates Martin Bashir as well…<br /><br />And why shouldn’t he?<br /><br />Sure...Martin Bashir stands tall among his fellow Christ Haters, in all of his MSNBC, London born Pakistani glory in a tight knit seersucker suit coat talking in his condescending UK accent to Americans, while aggrandizing about our hate for foreigners, but...you know what Mr. Pak Man?<br /><br /><i>Shut the Fuck Up!!</i><br /><br />Sure…We can let the children in, but then?  We should eat them!!  I hear that that is what they do in those types of heathen countries from which you came illegally!!<br /><br />You know what, Mr. Bashir?<br /><br /><i>Shut the Fuck Up!!</i><br /><i><br /></i><i>Cheers!!</i><br /><i><br /></i>Matt-Man<br /><br /><a href="mailto:mattmaniws@ymail.com">mattmaniws@ymail.com</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/MattMan_IWS" target="_blank">@mattman_iws</a></div>

Shut the Fuck Up with Hank Philpot Episode 2

Hello.  Hank Philpot here.  I’m a friend of Matt-Man.  I was going off on some things the other day to him and he said I could write down my...

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Combat: Ant and Roach Killer Review

<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj4UbkAKfFIeML4omJZXMr8Q-ndUKgQ318ROFky2y1yHrxWKDlqeByqiOYoAOTo7qRmoEsSIfx2R4z9vMvU0e1yzAce81NMTN3ALm6u5KzBZ-E-8wYTMaUfC0qx54Uc2I0cIoXVQghHwI/s1600/ants+marching.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj4UbkAKfFIeML4omJZXMr8Q-ndUKgQ318ROFky2y1yHrxWKDlqeByqiOYoAOTo7qRmoEsSIfx2R4z9vMvU0e1yzAce81NMTN3ALm6u5KzBZ-E-8wYTMaUfC0qx54Uc2I0cIoXVQghHwI/s1600/ants+marching.jpg" /></a></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;">It's almost that time of year again when the weather starts to change and you cook outside out on the grill and have picnics in the park or even on a beach.</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;">That's when the ants or roaches are on a picnic of their own even inside the house as well as outside! </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;">It's crazy, so you spend all of this money for an exterminator.</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 try bait strips!</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;">What are bait strips you ask?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiNdAsd5_SRlssUr4WDhNysuICh1ANN-iVhXk5TqNv5Z67ejsvAffm_BMhgDfSKq_Xs05h0y89-fifFiiSCfEyXUD5-9aW9xa_BkIpm4WEEhCKH4n2jy8JtkpbvYhI2lvNkdqwEv36K1U/s1600/combat+and+roach+killer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiNdAsd5_SRlssUr4WDhNysuICh1ANN-iVhXk5TqNv5Z67ejsvAffm_BMhgDfSKq_Xs05h0y89-fifFiiSCfEyXUD5-9aW9xa_BkIpm4WEEhCKH4n2jy8JtkpbvYhI2lvNkdqwEv36K1U/s320/combat+and+roach+killer.jpg" width="320" /></a></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;">It's the new innovative product that I received courtesy of Combat and Purex Insider 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;">The strip is known to stop the entire colony in it's tracks of ants or roaches and destroys them.</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 best thing about this product is that it's easy to apply, kills fast and doesn't even leave a mess.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFNIMHaG1pWWZxNdPYIq9bcfxEdkZFX00PK29OGMPGb43tmMvbwUdcJSSqoymA9o5gtMZhDLGj4ubCj-ynjtrdLQhcg5eIv90hPag34AenpW_4DYrgsNWC_S9KTa7rYPOtG9jAlrS9p1w/s1600/ant+strips.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFNIMHaG1pWWZxNdPYIq9bcfxEdkZFX00PK29OGMPGb43tmMvbwUdcJSSqoymA9o5gtMZhDLGj4ubCj-ynjtrdLQhcg5eIv90hPag34AenpW_4DYrgsNWC_S9KTa7rYPOtG9jAlrS9p1w/s320/ant+strips.jpg" width="320" /></a></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;">How does it work?</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 will find the bait strip, eat the bait and bring it back to the nest and it will then destroy the entire nest by being exposed to the bait and voila problem solved!</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>

Combat: Ant and Roach Killer Review

It's almost that time of year again when the weather starts to change and you cook outside out on the grill and have picnics in the park...

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Soft Scrub: 4 in 1 toilet bowl cleaner review and giveaway

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Winners are Apla Ash, June and Prettymamita! Congrats! </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Stay tuned for more giveaways! </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3cdV5xVcbrqd6D-0zVexUUcO-3C_qCtDSpShyVBPem5z5_OF9eXOBPw4XPGPTbjN6tIrjo-ujM-zhyphenhyphenpDro5-F3-mf1R30ZeIYQOvRBae4CgHjvAp1KotdHUy_tz5qqVG7WS9hJGh38k0/s1600/soft+scrub+4in1+toilet+bowl+cleaner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3cdV5xVcbrqd6D-0zVexUUcO-3C_qCtDSpShyVBPem5z5_OF9eXOBPw4XPGPTbjN6tIrjo-ujM-zhyphenhyphenpDro5-F3-mf1R30ZeIYQOvRBae4CgHjvAp1KotdHUy_tz5qqVG7WS9hJGh38k0/s320/soft+scrub+4in1+toilet+bowl+cleaner.jpg" width="320" /></a></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;">Cleaning toilets can be a hassle especially when you get those nasty rings inside of the bowl. </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;">Soft Scrub sent me this outstanding new product and it's a four in one toilet bowl cleaner.</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;">What's that do you ask? It handles everything so you don't need to use tons of cleaning products to do the job.</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;">It's used to prevent buildup, cleans toilet, fights toilet rings and has lasting freshness up to four weeks! </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;">How does it work?</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All you do is take the toilet bowl rim hanger and hang it on the inside of the toilet and releases the powerful cleaning solution with each flush!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cleaning the toilet has never been this easy before, thanks Purex Insider and Soft Scrub!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have 3 coupons to give away to 3 lucky readers for a free soft scrub product!</span><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>*GIVEAWAY RULES*</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>1. What's the most important thing you look for in a toilet bowl cleaner? </b></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>here are some examples.</b></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>price, freshness lasts longer, prevents toilet rings etc.</b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Want an extra entry?</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>2.  Must Follow my blog.</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>3.Then also follow me via Twitter, here. <a href="https://twitter.com/kelli_bliss" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;"> https://twitter.com/kelli_bliss</a></b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>4. then Re tweet my post about the giveaway and if you tweet on your own make sure you use #4-in-1ToiletCare</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>5. leave me a link here to your tweet.</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>6. Like their face book page as well </b></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><div style="color: black; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/SoftScrub?fref=ts"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">https://www.facebook.com/SoftScrub?fref=ts</span></a></div><div style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="color: black; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Due to FCC Rules:</u></span></span></div></div></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 Soft Scrub brand provided me with a sample of their 4-in one toilet bowl cleaner in exchange for a review,however all opinions expressed here are my own.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>

Soft Scrub: 4 in 1 toilet bowl cleaner review and giveaway

Winners are Apla Ash, June and Prettymamita! Congrats!  Stay tuned for more giveaways!  Cleaning toilets can be a hassle especially when you...

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