DelfinoPie

Steven Wilde

silent_shady

The Top 5 Signs You're in a Bad Hospital

5> Anesthesiologists put patients to sleep by making them watch "Gilmore Girls."

4> Removed organs get tossed into the tank of leeches in the ER lobby.

3> After slowly making a pass around your head with his cell phone, the doctor says, "Just as I suspected: Rigellian Fever! Nurse Chapel, have this man take two tribbles and I'll see him in the morning."

2> Your dad's in a coma, but the doctor insists he's just "pining for the fjords."

and the Number 1 Sign You're in a Bad Hospital...

OH YES


HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY !!

I must have missed this yesterday - the webmaster posted this

joe on music choice Got Comcast High Speed Internet or Comcast Digital Cable? Then you can see Joe Satriani in an exclusive MUSIC CHOICE TV interview, throughout the month of March. Click music on comcast.net or go to MUSIC CHOICE on your Comcast On-Demand Menu!

Steven Wilde

Hum, $100 on clothes, depending on where you went shopping, you could have a lot of clothes, a few new clothes, or a pair of socks.

michelle

I am particular about my socks. But no way for that price.

Things on Robert Blake's To-Do List

5> Call networks, pitch "crime-solving golf buddies" sit-com co-starring O.J.

4> 9:00 -- Retrieve gun left at restaurant.

10:00 -- Retrieve hatchet left at gas station.

11:00 -- Retrieve chainsaw left at grocery store.

Noon -- Retrieve flame-thrower left at Bed, Bath and Beyond.

3> Call Scott Peterson. Ask if he wants to go grab a beer, then say, "Oh, wait -- you LOST your case. Never mind." Laugh maniacally and hang up.

2> See if inexplicable good luck extends to getting Paris Hilton to polish my knob.

and the Number 1 Thing on Robert Blake's To-Do List...

How many entries are there for the Interview Contest?

STAR WARS EPISODE III SOUNDTRACK TO BE RELEASED MAY 3RD

On Tuesday, May 3, 2005, Sony Classical will release the original motion picture soundtrack of the last episode of the massively popular Star Wars saga, Star Wars&trade: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. It features a new score by five-time Oscar winner John Williams, who is also the composer and conductor of the score for each film in the six-chapter Star Wars saga, and an exclusive bonus collector's DVD - Star Wars: A Musical Journey - an unprecedented bonus at no additional cost.

Steven Wilde

I really enjoy the Star Wars movies - and I own almost all of the soundtracks on CD. I have some of the original trilogy on vinyl.

I may go to the midnight showing of Episode 3. I saw Episode 2 on the midnight show - was a blast - was a lot of fun to do that.

U.S. Rocker Gives Guitar to Brazil's Poor

BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) - U.S. rock star Lenny Kravitz gave a $5,000 electric guitar to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Saturday to help him raise funds for his struggling campaign to wipe out hunger in the South American country by 2006.

The Epiphone Flying V guitar used by Kravitz on his Latin American tour will be auctioned on the Internet at www.fomezero.gov.br and proceeds will go to building water cisterns in poor regions of Brazil's northeast, state news agency Radiobras reported.

Lula has gained an international profile for his proposals to fight global hunger and his "Zero Hunger" program in Brazil.

Maggots...coming to a Hospital Near You

LONDON (Reuters) - Phyllis Hulme's family and friends were aghast when she told them doctors planned to put maggots on her leg ulcer.

"I got some horrified looks. I think they thought: she's old, she doesn't know any better, she's gone a bit gaga," said the 81-year-old, who suffers from diabetes.

"But it's been marvelous. I used to feel like screaming sometimes, the pain was so bad, and the first night they were on the pain went."

It may sound gruesome, but it turns out that maggots are remarkably efficient at cleaning up infected wounds by eating dead tissue and killing off bacteria that could block the healing process.

Maggot medicine, in fact, has a long history. Napoleon's battle surgeon wrote of the healing powers of maggots 200 years ago, and they were put to work during the American Civil War and in the trenches in World War One.

With the arrival of modern antibiotics in the 1940s, however, maggots were consigned to the medical dustbin.

Now a new generation of physicians, keen to cut back on antibiotic use, is waking up to the creatures' charms. Some believe maggots are one of the most effective ways of treating wounds infected by the superbug methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

In a bid to prove the case for maggots conclusively, Dr Pauline Raynor of the University of York is recruiting 600 patients across Britain for the world's biggest ever maggot trial.

Her three-year study is being keenly watched by doctors and wound care specialists around the globe.

One third of patients -- selected at random -- will be treated with loose maggots, held in place by a dressing; one third with maggots contained in a gauze bag; and one third with hydrogel, a standard wound-cleaning therapy.

DON'T BE SQUEAMISH

So far, most patients have been enthusiastic -- once they are reassured that the sterilized greenfly larvae will not start burrowing into healthy flesh.

"These maggots are only interested in dead and unhealthy tissue. Rather than strip a leg, they will start eating each other instead," Raynor said.

"Some patients obviously aren't very keen, but we've found the majority are willing to take part. It has not been a problem in terms of squeamishness."

The maggots are tiny when applied to the wound but can grow to half a centimeter after they have eaten their fill.

In the long run, maggots could save patients a lot of pain -- and governments a lot of money -- if wounds heal faster.

Britain alone spends some 600 million pounds ($1.15 billion) a year treating leg ulcers, which affect 1 percent of the population and can persist for years.

(part 2) - Maggots ! !

Conventional treatment may take months, while maggot therapy normally involves just two or three sessions, each of 3 days.

Dr Kosta Mumcuoglu of the Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem, who has been practicing maggot therapy since 1996, says international interest in the treatment is growing fast.

"It's becoming much more acceptable. It is changing from an alternative treatment to a conventional method," he said.

Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites) approved maggots as a "medical device" and Britain has also made them available on prescription within the National Health Service, demonstrating how maggots are entering the mainstream, he said.

BUG BUSINESS

Mumcuoglu is president of the International Biotherapy Society, which supports the medical use of living organisms to fight disease -- including bee venom for rheumatism and leeches to clear congested blood in plastic surgery.

He estimates there are now 2,000 practitioners of maggot therapy and more than 20,000 people have been treated since the mid-1990s, mainly in Britain, Germany, the United States and Israel.

That has created a niche business in breeding surgical grade fly larvae. Produced from sterilized eggs, a batch of maggots for treating one wound sells for around 80 to 100 pounds ($153-$192.

Commercial companies already exist in Germany, and the Biosurgical Research Unit at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend, Wales -- Britain's sole maggot breeder -- plans to spin off its production operation in April to create a new firm, Zoobiotic Ltd, with the backing of venture capitalists.

Cleveland Cavaliers Fire Coach Paul Silas

Steven Wilde

I still have most of my toys, ships, cards, ect - my parents saved almost all of them for me.

I had a friend whose mom worked at Toys R Us - she would buy him one box of figures and would buy a second one and kept it in the closet.

When he turned 21, she gave him, unopened boxes (25) total of Star Wars figures - he had a few reviewed by collectors - said could be worth $10K +. The boxes she kept were in MINT condition - full sets from the original 3 movies. I am not sure what he did - kinda lost track of him over time.

cuthbert1776

HAPPY 1000 POSTS AND HAPPY 10 YEARS !!

WOW - THAT WAS A LOT OF WORK !!

I went through all 66 entries and voted.

Good work and good luck to those who entered.

There were some tough choices to make. It was fun to read all of the entries.

michelle

civgeek

THOUGHT YOU MIGHT ENJOY THE NEW TECHNOLOGY

It is GREAT to see BLUE again !!

It was fun reading the posts from down under and their experiences at the concert.

I really enjoyed the daily countdown to each show - such excitement.

G3 downunder - I may need to make a road trip (partially by air)

Spizazz

Thanks for the CD you sent my way.

It really rocks.

One strange thing though. I listening to it through iTunes - it shows the name of the song as Keep Da Party Goin, 4:35 long, performed by D.J. Black & Mild, the album name as Keep Da Party Goin', and the category is Hip Hop/Rap.

I know that iTunes is really messed up, when I read that I laughed and laughed, then laughed some more.

I really enjoyed the disc - thanks again

Alarm clock set to wake doziest of sleepers

LONDON (Reuters) - Can't get out of bed in the morning?

Scientists at MIT's Media Lab in the United States have invented an alarm clock called Clocky to make even the doziest sleepers, who repeatedly hit the snooze button, leap out of bed.

After the snooze button is pressed, the clock, which is equipped with a set of wheels, rolls off the table to another part of the room.