Tag: Open Thread

This Week In Health and Fitness

Welcome to this week’s Health and Fitness. This is an Open Thread.

I am back in NYC, sleeping in my own bed and trying to get back to “normal” which will take a few days, especially the cold. It was cool in New Orleans but not like NYC and, ugh, snow. I stopped in at my local Duncan Donuts yesterday and was warmly welcomed home. My daughter had told the staff where I was, so there were lots of hugs and free donuts for Dr. TMC who is addicted to the chocolate ones.

I’ll be making the Greek Zucchini Fritters tonight with Blackened Cat Fish and a Sauvgnon Blanc. Thank you all again for your support of the Haitian people. Please do not forget them, this is far from over.

Haiti: “We are not out of the emergency phase yet”

Dr. Marie-Pierre Allié, president of Médecins Sans Frontières-France, who recently returned from a field visit to Haiti, analyses the situation there one month after the disaster. At present, areas of concern include the vacuum caused by the withdrawal of some of the international medical teams who rushed to scene after the earthquake, the ongoing lack of shelter, and the slow pace of aid distribution.

One month after the earthquake, what is the situation in Haiti?

(emphasis mine)

Poor Sanitation in Haiti’s Camps Adds Disease Risk

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – As hundreds of thousands of people displaced by last month’s earthquake put down stakes in the squalid tent camps of this wrecked city, the authorities are struggling to address the worsening problem of human waste. Public health officials warn that waste accumulation is creating conditions for major disease outbreaks, including cholera, which could further stress the ravaged health system.

Some American and Haitian public health specialists here consider the diseases stemming from the buildup of human waste in the camps as possibly the most pressing health threat in the city. Doctors are already seeing a spike in illnesses like typhoid and shigellosis, which arise from contaminated food or water.

“We’re witnessing the setup for the spread of severe diarrheal illnesses in a place where the health system has collapsed and without a functioning sewage system to begin with,” said Ian Greenwald, chief medical officer for a Duke University team of doctors working here this month. Some American and Haitian public health specialists here consider the diseases stemming from the buildup of human waste in the camps as possibly the most pressing health threat in the city. Doctors are already seeing a spike in illnesses like typhoid  and shigellosis, which arise from contaminated food or water.

“We’re witnessing the setup for the spread of severe diarrheal illnesses in a place where the health system has collapsed and without a functioning sewage system to begin with,” said Ian Greenwald, chief medical officer for a Duke

University team of doctors working here this month.

The problem has become impossible to overlook in many districts of Port-au-Prince, with the stench of decomposing bodies replaced by that of excrement. Children in some camps that are still lacking latrines and portable toilets play in open areas scattered with the waste. The light rains here this week caused some donated latrines in the camps to overflow, illustrating how the problem would grow more acute as the rainy season intensified in the months ahead.

Tarps, toilets are priorities for quake-hit Haiti: U.N.

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – Haiti urgently needs tarpaulins, tents and 25,000 toilets one month after a magnitude 7 earthquake killed more than 200,000 people, the United Nation’s top aid official said on Friday.

U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes said the emergency medical care phase of dealing with earthquake trauma patients is “mostly over.” He added that one month after the disaster the two top priorities for impoverished Haiti are shelter and sanitation.

“It is urgent to get everybody with some kind of reasonably waterproof covering over their heads,” Holmes told reporters after a tour of earthquake recovery sites in Port-au-Prince and surrounding towns.

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

Now with 41 Top Stories.

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 UN appeals for nearly $1.5 billion for Haiti

By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer

Thu Feb 18, 9:03 pm ET

UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations launched a new appeal Thursday for nearly $1.5 billion to help the 3 million Haitians affected by last month’s devastating earthquake, its largest appeal ever for a natural disaster.

The appeal, covering needs in 2010, is more than double the U.N.’s initial request on Jan. 15 for $562 million to help quake victims for six months.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his special envoy for Haiti, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, launched the $1.44 billion appeal at a meeting with diplomats from many of the 191 other U.N. member states.

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

Now with 42 Top Stories.

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Eight US missionaries arrive in Miami after Haiti release

AFP

Thu Feb 18, 3:49 am ET

MIAMI, Florida (AFP) – Eight of 10 American missionaries who faced child kidnapping charges in Haiti arrived here early Thursday after being freed by a Haitian judge and leaving the quake-devastated nation.

The Miami Herald newspaper reported that the group arrived at Miami International Airport shortly after midnight.

A Haitian judge freed the missionaries without bail on Wednesday — though the charges were not dropped — and they were whisked to the airport in a van bearing diplomatic plates to board a US military transport plane for Miami.

The Stars Hollow Gazette

So it appears that CPAC is trying to ramp up enthusiasm with video games (warning, Faux Noise link).

Let me tell you how that works out.

Back in the day I was running my brewing buddy for capo di tutti (which by the way he never got and I did) he used to host these legendary Halloween Parties.  I remember the first one.

In addition to the usual party things you do, between us we have an unusual collection of classic video games including dedicated Pongs, Ataris, Colecos, Segas, Commodore 64s, Apples, and others of more ancient vintage that we set up as stations among which people could circulate.

AND we had a new video projector on which we planned to show Music Videos that people could dance to, but with which we debuted the most mesmerising 10 minutes in movies- the opening sequence of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

12 hours of couch drooling passivity later we vowed to never again include the Hypnotoad in our plans for world domination through pastel colored boxes.

The Hypnotoad.

"Television is a vast wasteland"
hypnotoad

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Sarkozy makes aid pledge on historic Haiti trip

by Nadege Puljak, AFP

1 hr 3 mins ago

PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) – Nicolas Sarkozy became Wednesday the first French president to visit Haiti, vowing to honor historic obligations to France’s former slave colony and promising almost half a billion dollars in quake aid.

“I have come to tell the Haitian people and their leaders that France, which was the first on the ground after the catastrophe, will remain firmly at the their side to help them pick themselves up again and open a new happy page in their history,” Sarkozy said in Port-au-Prince.

Sarkozy announced an aid package of some 326 million euros (446 million dollars) over the next two years, a sum that includes the cancellation of Haiti’s 56-million-euro debt.

Wednesday Morning Science Supplement

Wednesday Morning Science Supplement is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Science

1 Firms scale back from US climate push

by Shaun Tandon, AFP

Tue Feb 16, 9:32 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Three major US companies said they were leaving a coalition pushing for action on climate change, dealing a potential fresh blow to landmark legislation to cut carbon emissions.

The news came on the same day that President Barack Obama announced an eight-billion-dollar drive for nuclear power — part of his controversial bid to bring a diverse coalition behind his efforts for a greener economy.

The three companies — oil groups ConocoPhillips and BP America and equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. — said they backed efforts for a green economy but felt that proposed laws were unfair to them.

Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show Open Thread

Westminster Dog Show 2010: Why it’s better than Winter Olympics

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Haiti quake far more destructive than 2004 tsunami: study

by M.J. Smith, AFP

1 hr 9 mins ago

PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) – The scale of devastation in Haiti is far worse than in Asia after the 2004 tsunami, a study said Tuesday, predicting last month’s quake could be the most destructive disaster in modern history.

The stark assessment from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) comes with Port-au-Prince still lying in ruins more than one month on, while the bodies of more than 200,000 dead pile up in mass graves outside the capital.

The study’s release coincided with what would normally be Haiti’s annual carnival, an explosion of pulsing music and colorful parades. But this year, the events have been cancelled as no one is in the mood to party.

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Homeless Haitians line up before dawn for tarps

AFP

Sun Feb 14, 6:49 pm ET

PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) – Desperate Haitians began lining up well before dawn on Sunday for tarpaulins distributed to those left homeless by last month’s earthquake, although many said they needed tents instead.

With the coming rainy season threatening to worsen already squalid conditions in makeshift camps across the capital, aid organizations have been seeking to distribute tarps for up to 1,500 families per day.

More than a million Haitians are homeless, but a month after the massive quake, UN officials said only about 50,000 families, or an estimated 272,000 people, have received emergency materials to build their own shelters.

Open Book

Photobucket

Weekend News Digest

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

Now with 36 Top Stories.

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Emotional gatherings mark one month since Haiti quake

by Andrew Beatty and M.J. Smith, AFP

Fri Feb 12, 10:23 pm ET

PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) – Haitians gathered at tearful ceremonies in sprawling homeless camps, churches and alleyways to mark one month since a huge quake shattered their country and killed more than 200,000 people.

President Rene Preval, who has rarely appeared in public since the January 12 disaster, spoke emotionally in memory of the victims on Friday, declaring Haiti “will not die” and acknowledging he could not find words to express his pain.

Throughout Port-au-Prince and beyond, Haitians dressed in white or their Sunday best raised their hands in prayer at countless ceremonies, many in camps where more than a million people now live after losing their homes.

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Tears as Haiti marks month since earthquake

by Andrew Beatty and M.J. Smith, AFP

1 hr 34 mins ago

PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) – Clad in white, hundreds of thousands of Haitians congregated throughout Port-au-Prince Friday for tearful ceremonies to mark one month since a cataclysmic earthquake shattered their country.

In the central Champ de Mars square, where the impact of the 7.0 magnitude temblor is still seen in the sprawling tented camps that now dominate the plaza, people began to gather from before dawn.

Part memorial service, part rally, mourners gave resilient cries of “hallelujah” as others wept for loved ones lost in an event many simply call “the catastrophe.”

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