Miss Fidget.com

The Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series last night, for the only the second time since they were founded in 1883. The last time they won the world series was 1980. In fact, Philadelphia sports teams have been thought to be literally cursed by city and state founder, William Penn.

The curse is said to have started with the March 1987 construction of the One Liberty Place skyscraper, which exceeded the height of William Penn’s statue atop Philadelphia City Hall. Formerly, by “gentlemen’s agreement” all buildings in the city had to be shorter than William Penn’s statue.

The curse affected all major sports teams in the the city. Footballs the EAGLES, hockeys the FLYERS, basketball’s 76ers and baseball’s The PHILLIES. The city went through an unprecedented drought of championships, the longest losing streak for all major sports one city had ever seen.

In June 18, 2007, ironworkers from Local Union 401 helped raise the final beam in the construction of the Comcast Center  in downtown Philadelphia. Currently it’s the tallest building in the city at 975 ft (297.2 m). In an attempt to end the curse, workers a small figurine of Billy Penn to the beam, along with the traditional American flag and small evergreen tree. (The origins of the evergreen in a topping off ceremony can be discussed elsewhere.) After the first Billy Penn figurine was stolen, it was replaced with a smaller 4 inch figure.

Friday a parade is planned along the same route as the cities annual New Years Day Mummer’s Parade. Attendance is expected to be high. Further festivities include a rumored “world’s largest pinata.” Unsubstantiated reports state it will be over 60 feet tall and filled with either 800 or 8,000 pounds of candy and opened with a wrecking ball and crane.

Sources for this have included wikipedia and the online version of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

 

Epigenetics and methylation are the stepping stone between nature and nurture. If you are unaware of these terms go make yourself smart, start at wikipedia, then hit Science News. If your life has been affected by suicide, or you’ve marveled at suicide clusters keep reading. Speaking of Miss Fidget making you smart, vitamin D is the next hot vitamin.

Genomic Changes Found In Brains Of People Who Commit Suicide
www.sciencedaily.com  |  ScienceDaily (Oct. 24, 2008)

ScienceDaily (Oct. 24, 2008) — Are genes destiny? Alternatively, are we simply the products of our environment? There is a growing sense that neither of these two possibilities fully captures the essence of the risk for psychiatric disorders. New light is being shed on the complex interaction of genetic and environmental factors as the result of growth in the field of epigenetics.

While genetics is the study of how variation in gene sequence or “genotype” influences traits or “phenotypes,” epigenetics (epi- from the Greek meaning outside or above) is the study of heritable changes in gene function that may occur without modifying the gene sequence, often as a consequence of environmental exposures.

There are an increasing variety of epigenetic mechanisms that have been described, including the regulation of gene function via the methylation or demethylation of DNA. The study by Drs. Michael Poulter and Hymie Anisman and colleagues in the October 15th issue of Biological Psychiatry illustrates one exciting new example in this area of research, an epigenetic study of depression/suicide. The researchers compared the brain tissues of those who had major depressive disorder and committed suicide to those from a control group who died suddenly, from heart attacks and other causes.

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I can see how this would happen. Talk about dumb luck, but I do consider it rude to chat while in the lavatory, using the commode. However, I think chatting while taking a bath is charming and ok. This uncredited photo of a train toilet may or may not be of the type he got his arm stuck in, but it does look like a hi-speed train toilet, dig the grab bars.

Train traveller gets arm stuck in toilet

www.famagusta-gazette.com  |  27.OCT.08  |  The Famagusta Gazette Online • PO Box 22399, Nicosia • Republic of Cyprus

A French train traveller had to be freed by fire fighters when he got his arm stuck in a toilet.

The 26-year-old man, who was travelling on the high speed TGV train from La Rochelle to Paris, was talking on his mobile when dropped it into the toilet.

When he tried to retrieve it, his arm was sucked into the disposal pipe and stuck fast.

The man was removed from the train, together with the toilet, by a fire crew who eventually managed to release him.

He suffered only slight injury to his elbow. The train was delayed by two hours. -

 

It’s hard to have a lump of black coal where your heart should be when you read a story like this. Best wishes to the family of seven as they recover from the fire. So glad all the kids are ok. This story would make a great children’s book. Its got it all, fire safety, a hero and firemen.

Video links can be tricky but the first is  worth checking. Both are short.

Really good video that shows the flaming home, and dog getting oxygen.

Almost raw footage of the scene and dog licking the kittens afterward.

Lion-hearted Leo has courage licked
Kelly Ryan  |  www.news.com.au/heraldsun  |  October 27, 2008 12:00am

A TENACIOUS terrier dubbed Leo the Lion-hearted is being lauded for staying loyally by the side of four helpless kittens trapped in a burning house.

The gutsy bitzer had to be resuscitated by firefighters after refusing to abandon the kittens even as thick smoke and flames filled a Seddon weatherboard home on Saturday night.

Firemen had to dodge fallen power lines to enter the blazing building in Pilgrim St after three children rescued from the blaze screamed for their pets to be saved.

“One officer returned into the blazing house and re-emerged carrying the near-lifeless Leo,” said MFB western zone commander Ken Brown.

“Another couple of firefighters grabbed the resuscitation equipment and . . . were able to revive him.

“The dog had remained stoically guarding the box of kittens, even though their mother had disappeared.”

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