Haynes.tv

It was late Sunday afternoon at the Turnberry golf course and 59 year old Tom Watson was staring down a medium length putt that would seal his victory at the 138th Open Championships. He could feel a brisk wind hitting him; the same wind that was coming off the ocean all day and reaching speeds of over 20 mph. He knew what was on the line as he stared down at the hole. If he was to sink that putt then he would complete one of golf’s most amazing feats by becoming the oldest man to win a major golf championship at the age of 59. Watson had the opportunity to win his first major title in 26 years (his last victory in a major happened to be the 1983 Open Championships) and win his 6th Open Championship, tying Jersey’s Harry Vardon for the most wins ever at the Open. Tom Watson had the chance to finish a dream weekend in Scotland that would conclude with him hoisting the Claret Jug for the 6th time. Tom Watson had a lot on the line.

Watching from the Club House was the American Stewart Cink. Cink was the club house leader and the only other player in the tournament that had a chance to take the victory. Earlier, he had sunk a fifteen foot birdie putt at the 18th to post a score of -2. As he watched, he knew that if Watson missed his par putt, then he and Watson would enter a playoff for the Championship. He knew that the putt would determine whether or not he would have a legitimate shot at his first major victory. The former 3-time All-American at Georgia Tech and 1997 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year knew that victory was within his reach, but it all depended on one putt.

With the entire crowd in complete silence, Watson hit his putt. As the putter hit the ball his eyes inched forward as he watched the ball move toward the hole. The ball rolled along the green and then broke to the right. The putt was not to be. It stopped short of the hole and a little bit to the right. Watson then tapped in the bogey putt and finished the day at -2, thus forcing a playoff between he and Cink.

The Open Championship has it’s own unique style of a playoff, where players golf four holes and see who can do it in the least strokes. Cink took care of Watson easily in those four holes, as he finished six strokes ahead by the end of the playoff. It was not Tom Watson who would be holding the Claret Jug by the end of the day, but rather Stewart Cink. Although, it would have been nice to see a 59 year-old win a major, we have to remember that Cink had never won a major before in his career. Watson had already won eight. So whether you were rooting for Watson or Cink, it was overall a great weekend on the links.

The next major to be played on the PGA tour will be “Glory’s last shot”: the PGA Championship. The tournament is nicknamed “Glory’s Last Shot” because it is the last major tournament in the season, the last chance at immortality for each golfer. Will Watson bounce back and win the PGA (which happens to be the only major tournament that he has never won)? Will Tiger rebound from a poor weekend at the Open and win his first major since coming off of his knee injury? Will the World number 2, Phil Mickelson, reclaim a title that he earned in 2005 as the victor of the PGA Championship? These questions and more will be answered in August at the Hazeltine National Golf Club.

Zach Seites-Rundlett

The recent release (June 19) of the Apple iPhone 3GS (I’m sure we have all seen the commercials and advertisements for Apple’s newly updated version of the iPhone) has an innumerable amount of what the iPhone calls “apps” (features). The various apps allow you to perform different functions such as listening to music, recording videos, going on the internet, using e-mail, looking at maps, taking photos, and a number of other functions. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that it is also supposed to work as a phone.

Apple introduced the original iPhone on June 29, 2007, after a very long and hyped up wait. With Apple’s recent widespread successes in selling both computers and iPods, Apple decided to expand upon it’s already popular name by venturing into a business that was growing perhaps even faster than Apple’s bank itself, the cell phone industry. The iPhone was to go farther and be better than any other phone before. It was to combine music, internet, e-mail, camera, and verbal communication into a singular device. It was to be a multitude of devices all fit into one. However, there is one question to be asked. When does it all become too excessive?

We appear to have an American society that is becoming more fast-pace and technologically advanced than ever before. This advancement is not unexpected, given the fact that society is always progressing forward and inventing new gadgets and devices in order to move ahead. But are we becoming too obsessed and infatuated with objects such as iPhones and other similar devices. The iPhone allows us to do so many things right out of our own pockets, but is their an actual need to be able to constantly go on the internet or message your buddy whilst enjoying a picnic, taking a hike, watching a sporting event, or driving. I believe personally that it has extended far beyond the definition of superfluous (useless or needless). How can one possibly enjoy what they may be doing when half of their attention is focused on watching a surfing dog on youtube or messaging their friend about the weather.

Let’s use going to the beach as an example. One might visit the beach to enjoy the water, spend time with other people, go surfing or bodyboarding, meet other people, play a particular sport such as volleyball or Frisbee, or just take in the natural beauty of the coastline. There are many reasons why one might enjoy going to a beach, but the list does not include playing solitaire on your phone, or text messaging your friend about how good you thought a movie was. Perhaps you may want to take pictures at the beach, and if that is the case then there is still no need for a multi-functional device, rather you could bring a camera which will give you much better quality anyway.

If you are going to taste the splendors of the natural world and places such as a beach then there is no reason to spend the entire time focused on a phone. If one wants to spend a day watching videos on their phone or text messaging their friend, then one can easily do all of these things at home. If you really want to be social with one of your friends then get together with them rather than glue your eyes to a touch screen keyboard (iPhone feature) all day. Enjoy the beach for what the beach is, not as a place where you can sit and play with your phone.

If you have a phone that has an infinite amount of features than please don’t let it become an interference when you are doing other things. If you want to watch Youtube videos than watch them at home on your computer, not on a camping trip. There is much more to this world than iPhones. Remember, there were other things to do before playing virtual soccer on a little phone screen, there was playing actual soccer itself.

Zach Seites-Rundlett

Now that the World Health Organization has taken to calling Swine Flu simply influenza A (H1N1), the Centers for Disease Control here in the United States will not follow suit, because they believe changing the name now will only serve to confuse people. They want to be as clear as possible in such an anxious time. Of course now many in the media have just started tacking the H1N1 name onto swine flu to help be even more clear about it.

Also Rhode Island Officials have just sent two more probable cases of Swine Flu to the Health Department for testing bringing the total of probable cases in Rhode Island up to 6 pending results which I imagine should be coming back very soon for at least that one from North Kingstown. One of the other probable cases is also at Johnson and Wales, and they are now canceling classes and activities for Monday at JWU at the request of the state department.

Airports are currently trying new high tech detection techniques (actually many installed them back during the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and bird flu scares). Still they are fairly new. The only problem with their fancy thermal image scanners is that they can only detect swine flu after the early stages of entry and uncoating, before it triggers all of our bodies defenses. However, during this incubation period which can last up to 6 days the virus can still be contagious.

Unfortunately, for recognizing the limitations of these thermal images scanner and using them sparing here in the US many have officials have come under fire.

Now Rhode Island is still awaiting results on swine flu tests, but we are now up to 4 probable cases here, as there has now been the addition of one from Johnson and Wales University, along with the one from North Kingstown High School and the two others from around the state. There are now somewhere around 19 states and 149 cases in the US, along with 34 in Canada, 14 in Spain, 8 in UK, 2 in France, and 1 in Hong Kong (Mexican citizen). There are of course cases in a number of other countries too.

President Obama reportedly sought $1.5 from congressional leaders to help fight swine flu. They are now moving forward towards a vaccine hopefully by the fall. Although, they still do not know for sure if it is possible to create a safe and appropriate vaccine. Further, they do now believe the origins of swine flu now to be a million hog farm in Perote, Mexico run by Smithfield Foods.

Fortunately swine flu seems to lack some of the genetic traits of the 1918 flu and bird flu despite being of the same subtype H1N1. They now believe swine flu to be less variable then first feared. Now that it seems we have very much overreacted to this swine flu, and are now proceeding with cautious optimism. Let us just hope that next time something comes down the pipe we do not under react to what may be the proverbial bubonic plague of our time.

As I have said before the only known prevention methods for swine flu H1N1 thus far are the same ones you would use for the common flu. However, we are thus far only guessing that this flu has the same vectors (methods of transmission) as the common flu, which would make sense being that it is so similar.



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Again just to summarize some prevention methods that can and have been taken at the level of the organization or company are:

Place hand sanitizers strategically around in public areas to provide easy access for people to make sure their hands are clean.*

Post signs will be in restrooms reminding people of the importance of hand washing as a means of prevention for cold and flu.

Take extra steps to clean all public areas with solutions specializing in prevention of flu bacteria, wiping down door knobs, elevator buttons, handrails, phones and other places that are considered high touched areas.

On a personal level some prevention methods are again:

Cover your mouth when coughing to prevent the spread of germs

Wash your hands regularly, and carry or use conveniently located hand sanitizers*

Make wise choices about places you choose to frequent where large crowds might be present

Stay home from work or school when you are sick, and visit the doctor at the first indication of the flu like symptoms

* (Make sure hand sanitizers are at least 60% alcohol (typically ethanol) content or better, there are some discount brands out there which are only 40% and can actually mobilize the bacteria and worsen the problem. (as indicated by an informal classroom experiment at East Tennessee State University))

The WHO and others are now discussing a new name for swine flu because of the adverse affects it is having on the pig markets. As many of you know I mentioned in a previous post that Egypt has ordered the slaughter of all their pigs. Also I imagine this does not help the pigs rap much as it is also considered unclean in Judaism and Islam. The dietary laws of Kosher or Kashrut under Jewish tradition and Halal under Islamic tradition, because it does not ruminate or chew the cud. Of course under most Christian tradition the pig is now considered clean because Jesus freed us from the obligation of the dietary laws.

So how has swine flu affected pigs, well it is known to affect them, but there are no know pigs in the United States with swine flu, at the moment. Also, pork is still completely safe to eat so long as you cook it properly.

This is affecting really hard pig export from North American nations to places such as Russia and China who have imposed bans on exports of live pigs and pork.

Currently the WHO thinks their name was appropriate because there is a large competent of swine influenza in the flu virus, along with genes from North American avian influenza, human influenza and a form of swine influenza normally found in Asia and Europe, according to Nancy Cox, chief of the CDC’s Influenza Division.

As of right now it remains to be seen whether the WHO and others will end up deciding to change the name of swine flu to something more straightforward name like “H1N1 flu”. Although, that name wouldn’t be anywhere near as catchy or as fun for the news media to throw around.

Swine Flu continues to spread throughout the world today, and is now confirmed in 13 nations and suspected in up to 27 more nations all over the world. Today we remain at phase 5 alert status out 6 phases on the World Health Organization’s warning system. Below is a chart of their warning system.

Still no one knows for sure where swine flu orginated, but it is suspected to have come from Mexico, altough Mexico has sought to point to its orgins elsewhere. It is through to have Zoonotic ogrins, meaning the disease likely crossed over from animals. There are prevention mentions for Zoonotic disease you which you can find here. Unforutnately it is a little late for them now, unless you are going to visit the pig farm, then make sure you take a look at them.

Swine flu is currently treatable with the flu drugs Tamiflu or Relenza, but not with two older flu medications. Currently there are no vaccines for swine flu.

The only prevent methods are the good old fashion ones such as covering your mouth when you cough washing your head regularly, and staying away from others when you are sick.

Still no one knows for sure where swine flu originated, but it is suspected to have come from Mexico, although Mexico has sought to point to its origins elsewhere. It is through to have Zoonotic origins, meaning the disease likely crossed over from animals.

There are prevention mentions for Zoonotic disease you which you can find here. Unfortunately it is a little late for them now, unless you are going to visit the pig farm, then make sure you take a look at them.

The current strain going around is called the H1N1 H and N stand for the two viral proteins, hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N), characteristic of all influenza A viruses the numbers after the viral proteins represent genetic mutations in the structure of the proteins. For some reason the virus has been more lethal in Mexico thus far; perhaps because of reduced access to health care and the poor living conditions in much of Mexico.

With Avian flu I recall it was the H5N1 variant they were really worried about, and I believe they are still concerned about the possibility of the H6N1 crossing over to humans. Likewise with swine flu I think our biggest concern is if it mutates into another variant that cannot be treated with our current antiviral medications.

There are also theory circulating that the swine flu may have been cooked up in lab somewhere, as some sort of population control method to help curve global warming. This is because of its high geographical diversity. Although, that is not necessarily true in today’s world of globalization it is still a possibility, as no one knows for sure the origins.

What they do know is the characteristics:
The new virus has genes from North American swine influenza, avian influenza, human influenza and a form of swine influenza normally found in Asia and Europe, said Nancy Cox, chief of the CDC’s Influenza Division.

Now as I have said before I am opposed to many aspects of Darwin’s theory of evolution. Mutations here are solely a micoevolutionary thing they will lead to any new species or any radically different virus. If it mutates the virus will still have the same basic structure and the two same proteins hemagglutinin and neuraminidase just slightly different organization.

Within the virus genome they are not creating new genes they are simply rearranging current and preexisting genetic materials. The influenza A viral genome consists of eight negative-sense RNA segments that can generate new variants by genetic reassortment.1

In fact virus are not even alive, as they cannot even function without a host organism. They are stripped down parasites. In fact it is likely their simplicity, and not their complexity that allows them to be so adaptable. As they don’t need much material of their own. Granted they are still very complex for our understanding but comparative to the genetic material in the human genome they are not. Also, being that influenza is an RNA virus it is much more flexible than a DNA based virus, RNA while only a half helix and therefore replicates much easier.




WHO PANDEMIC ALERT PHASES
# Phase 1: No viruses circulating among animals causing infections in humans
# Phase 2: Animal influenza virus causes infection in humans, and is considered potential pandemic threat
# Phase 3: Influenza causes sporadic cases in people, but no significant human-to-human transmission
# Phase 4: Verified human-to-human transmission able to cause community-level outbreaks. Significant increase in risk of a pandemic
# Phase 5: Human-to-human transmission in at least two countries. Strong signal pandemic imminent
# Phase 6: Virus spreads to another country in a different region. Global pandemic under way

‡ Not all cases have been confirmed to be due to this strain.
Some are cases of influenza-like illness (ILI) that have not been confirmed through testing to be due to this strain.


Untied States	Cases
State	Laboratory confirmed	Probable	Suspected‡	Deaths Confirmed (unconfirmed)‡
Total	94	143+	477+	1
Texas	16	14+	6+	1
New York	51	8+	75	0
California	14	29	-	0
Maine	3	-	12+	0
Michigan	2	1	2	0
Massachusetts	2	-	2	0
Kansas	2	-	0	0
Indiana	1	2	0	0
Ohio	1	1	9	0
Arizona	1	-	24+	0
Nevada	1	-	0	0
South Carolina	0	17	-	0
Arkansas	0	12	0	0
Delaware	0	10	0	0
Illinois	0	9	0	0
New Jersey	0	7	0	0
Louisiana	0	6	0	0
Maryland	0	6	0	0
Washington	0	6	0	0
Connecticut	0	3	5	0
Wisconsin	0	3	0	0
Iowa	0	2	150	0
Colorado	0	2	0	0
Minnesota	0	1	50+	0
Tennessee	0	1	10	0
Nebraska	0	1	6	0
Missouri	0	1	0	0
Pennsylvania	0	1	0	0
Utah	0	1	0	0
Rhode Island	0	3	0	0
Alabama	0	2	29	0
Florida	0	0	80	0
Oregon	0	0	14	0
North Carolina	0	-	11	0
Mississippi	0	-	10	0
New Mexico	0	0	5	0
Idaho	0	-	4	0
Hawaii	0	0	3+	0
Oklahoma	0	-	1	0
New Hampshire	0	-	TBD	0

While searching around for swine flu related marital I found this graphic, I apologize for the somewhat ghastly nature of it. Nonetheless I think it sums up Swine Flu well, and the powerful nature of it focuses us to the problem while not overwhelming us too greatly. The graphic was originally created for a video game entitled Biohazard (the Japanese name of Resident Evil)

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So far there are 91 confirmed cases of Swine Flu in the United States as of 11:24 a.m. ET and the World Health Organization (WHO) has raises their alert level for swine flu to phase 5.

In Egypt they are slaughtering all of their pigs, roughly 300,000 as a preemptive precaution against swine flu. Egyptian farmers are very unhappy and some have even refused to slaughter their pigs. Also there are now 6 probably cases in Maryland according to the governor there, and possible cases in Chicago Illinois.

Also now google has put their flu tracker to work on Swine Flu in Mexico, and I imagine they will probably have one for the US soon or maybe they already do. You can see the Mexican flu tracker here

Update 8:30 p.m. EST
Wow I am not sure how I missed this one, but I just found from my neighbor and then got hit with a comment on Facebook as soon as I walked back in. Now North Kingstown High School has a probably case of swine flu, and that is my town! Now school at NKHS has been canceled for the rest of the week, as a precautionary measure.

Swine Flu is starting to spread, and for many it is coming a little too close to home. According to the Associated Press it has struck in Boston now. For me living in Rhode Island I through New York was pretty close when I heard three days ago that eight N.Y. high school Students tested positive for Swine Flu, according to the N.Y. Mayor. Now that I know it is near Boston it is getting way too close for comfort.

BOSTON (AP) — Two young brothers in Massachusetts who became sick after a trip to Mexico have tested positive for swine flu, health officials confirmed Wednesday. The boys, ages 8 and 10, are from Lowell – about 35 miles northwest of Boston. They are the first confirmed cases in New England.

Monday the World Health Organization raised their Pandemic Alert Level to 4 because of Swine Flu and in Mexico many public gatherings were canceled and many people are wearing masks out in public.

Now we sadly have our first confirmed dead from Swine flu in the United States today

First U.S. Death From Swine Flu — 23-Month-Old From Texas — the CDC Confirms [6:54 a.m. ET]

David Kellerman the acting CFO (Chief Finical Officer) of Freddie Mac hung himself today in his home, and was found dead just this morning. The question of why he would kill himself could be answered in one of two ways: either he had an enormously guiltily conscious, or he was under an abnormally huge degree of stress. Either, way we can see the damage that can be done to a man physiological when they are involved in such a catastrophic, whether he was at fault or not; he was suffering the consequences of losing so much of this countries money.
It is certainly awfully hard for me to believe that this man was not involved in some crucial decisions that led to the collapse of Freddie Mac being that before he took over as acting CFO he was a senior vice-president and led the company’s accounting and finance operations.

According to the guardian.co.uk

At least six other financial services executives have committed suicide under stress from the current credit crisis. Those include Germany’s fifth richest man, Adolf Merckle, who in January threw himself under a train in an act his family blamed on his company’s “desperate situation”. In December, a French fund manager who had lost $1.4bn of clients’ money to Bernard Madoff’s ponzi scheme was found dead at his desk in New York.

While I do not know the hearts of these people these people are examples of the damage money can do to a person. Just because you have money does not mean you are well off. Money is only good if it does not come with undue stress and comes ethically, ultimately for these people that was not the case and they had to pay the ultimately price for their money.

NASA has captured a photo of what appears as the Hand of God. While this certainly does not prove the existence of God any more than an interestingly shaped cloud would. Certainly, God has already provided sufficient wittiness and proof of His existence, and is pleased to do so through things, which many would consider foolish. Accordingly, we need not believe that this is the necessarily the hand of God, but simply that this is the work of God to be impressed. The mere possibility that this could be an image of the hand of God is enough.