Wednesday, November 19, 2008
SKIN CANCER JUST BECAME PERSONAL FOR ME - I HAVE BEEN DIAGNOSED AS HAVING BASAL CELL CANCER ON MY FACE...
My early years of not taking precautions when sun-bathing or working unprotected in the sun have come back to haunt me later in life. While my skin cancers are treatable by special creams or surgery, let this be a warning to younger readers, especially in my homeland of New Zealand or neighbouring Australia because of ozone depletion and extra risk from the sun's UV rays, to cover up or use protection against sunburn which is where all the problems originate. Remember that even on a cloudy day you can be at risk from the sun. The picture is not of me, but of an elderly man with advanced cancer. Mine has been diagnosed before it has become advanced.
Types of Skin Cancer:
Skin cancers are named for the type of cells that become cancerous. If skin cancer spreads from its original place to another part of the body, the new growth has the same kind of abnormal cells and the same name as the primary growth. It is still called skin cancer.
Melanoma
Melanoma is a tumour that develops from melanocytes (pigment cells). It most commonly occurs in the skin on parts of the body that have been sunburned, but it can appear in skin any where on the body. Melanoma can start in parts of the body other than the skin but this is very rare.
Melanoma is the least common but the most serious form of skin cancer.
New Zealand has one of the highest melanoma death rates in the world.
The first sign is a change in the colour or size of a freckle or mole or the appearance of a new spot on the skin.
It may have flecks of brown, black, blue and red in it.
It has an irregular edge and appears or changes over a period of a few weeks to months.
It is the most common cancer among 20 to 40 year olds.
The risk of melanoma increases as you get older.
Melanoma develops in weeks or months and spreads quickly.
If it is diagnosed and treated early the treatment is usually successful.
The parts of the body that can be affected are:
the eye (ocular melanoma)
the mouth, vulva or vagina (mucosal melanoma)
under fingernails or toenails (subungual melanoma).
Basal cell skin cancer:
Grows slowly. It usually occurs on areas of the skin that have been in the sun. It is most common on the face. Basal cell cancer rarely spreads to other parts of the body.
It is the most common skin cancer (about three-quarters of all skin cancers).
It is a pale, red or pearly, smooth lump, usually on the face or neck.
It is less common in people under 40.
It is the least dangerous type of skin cancer, but can be serious if left untreated.
Squamous cell skin cancer:
Also occurs on parts of the skin that have been in the sun. But it also may be in places that are not in the sun. Squamous cell cancer sometimes spreads to lymph nodes and organs inside the body.
It is more common in people over 40.
It is a raised, crusty, non-healing sore, which often appears on a person’s hands, forearms, face or neck.
It can be lethal if left untreated.
If found early it is easily treated.
Basal and squamous are the two most common types of skin cancer. These cancers usually form on the head, face, neck, hands, and arms. These areas are exposed to the sun. But skin cancer can occur anywhere.
Sun spots (solar keratoses)
These are:
Flat, red or sometimes brown, scaling spots.
A sign of sun damage to the skin.
A warning that you may be likely to develop skin cancer.
Common in fairer-skinned people over 40 who have spent a lot of time outdoors.
Usually found on parts of the body which have had many years of sun, such as the face and hands.
Acknowledgement to NZ health publications:
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Wednesday, November 05, 2008
CONGRATULATIONS TO PRESIDENT- ELECT BARACK OBAMA AND AMERICA - CAN YOU BELIEVE IT...
Congratulations to President- Barack Obama and America - can you believe it?
To an outsider and foreigner like myself President-elect Obama appears to be a highly intelligent, pragmatic and ambitious centrist with the ability and charisma to not only lead his people but to restrain any out of control idealogues within his own party. He may well be an unknown quantity and an untested politician in the wider sense. But he has the potential to be an inclusive messenger of hope with great leadership potential. His was a great acceptance speech.
What an admirable, elegant,and gracious concession speech from defeated republican presidential candidate, John McCain. I have gained some real respect for this politician and man in recent weeks. America was indeed fortunate to have two great candidates.
Perhaps John McCain realised even earlier in this campaign that he was part of something greater, something historical and that he was actually part of Barack Obama's destiny. Hopefully Barack Obama will not be cut short in the middle of his career like a notable predecessor, John F Kennedy. It is not only America that seeks leadership but the free world as well.
It is now extremely important for America itself that President Obama is allowed to realise his apparent destiny. As the first African American president of immigrant descent, American birth and education, he is talented, self made and charismatic.
Only the future will tell!
factualTV
Saturday, November 01, 2008
ALL BLACKS AND WALLABY RUGBY TEAMS PLAY AN INTERNATIONAL RUGBY TEST AT HONG KONG...
All Blacks and Wallaby rugby teams play an international rugby test at Hong Kong...
First published at Qassia:
On Nov 2 2008 the New Zealand All Blacks and the Australian Wallabies scored a first for world rugby union by playing the fourth Bledisloe Cup test at a neutral venue; the holders NZ had already retained the cup 2-1 through earlier games played in New Zealand and Australia, but the fourth was played out in a true manner and won by the All Blacks 19-14 on what was really a sub-standard surface, and probably caused the ankle injury to All Black hooker, Andrew Hore, who is now out of the impending northern hemisphere tour and has been replaced by another player back in NZ.
It was the usual and expected no holds barred tough encounter between world rugby's giants. A rusty and out-passioned All Blacks team had to claw there way back from a 9-14 deficit to score ten unanswered points and win by 19-14 at the final whistle. Some strange selections which were changed in the second half saw the AB's overcome a somewhat ill disciplined Wallabies in the second half. To select the world's greatest No 10 Daniel Carter at second five or inside centre was baffling. After he was returned to his rightful position into the second half as the playmaker and the physical Ma'a Nonu was brought on at No 12, the Black backline started to fire, gaining better possession and territory statistics than during the first. half. A second half try to All Black captain, Richie McCaw, the world's greatest No 7 and open side flanker, sealed the game for the All Blacks.
There was no doubt the Wallabies played well in the first half. Both teams had problems adjusting to a different set of ELVS( experimental laws) than those played in the southern hemisphere which helped to make the game a better spectacle.
The reasons for organising an international test match at Hong Kong, famous for its annual sevens rugby tounaments, was for the globalisation of rugby, but also revenue gathering for the New Zealand and Australian rugby unions who reportedly gained 4-5 million dollars from the match.
Its off to Edinburgh, Scotland today for their match next week against Scotland, followed by tests against Ireland, Wales and England and, hopefully, another grandslam! The Wallabies are also off to Britain for the end of year tour.
I'll be back later to post some stories on the All Blacks northern tour.
Kiaora
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
THE NEW ZEALAND PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS ON NOV 8 2008 SHOULD BE A PHOTO FINISH...
The New Zealand parliamentary elections on Nov 8 2008 should be a photo finish.
The social democratic Labour Party are seeking their fourth 3 year term. They will be supported by another left of centre party, the Greens, and one or two other minor parties. The right of centre National Party opposition doesn't have too many options on the right of the spectrum. The ethnic Maori Party could be the kingmakers depending on how many Maori seats they hold; they have four of seven at present with the Labour Party holding three.
NZ has an MMP proportional electoral system - mixed member proportional. Half of the 120 seats are electorate and the other half party based on the percentage of votes the party has won. If a party wins more than their percentage dictates, that becomes an overhang and extra seats added to parliament.
The Labour Party has been a minority government supported by other parties whenever necessary.
There is about ten days to the election day; the polls are erratic and falsely representative. The National Party could win the most seats but not enough to form a government. The Labour Party could have less seats but form a government with the support of the Greens and other minor parties. That is the European style of proportional representatiion; something New Zealand voters have to accept, whether they like the results or not.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
AIDS IS NOT MONKEY BUSINESS...
Aids is not monkey business...
Part 1/
Journalist, Bob Brockie, wrote in his column at the Dominion Post newspaper in Wellington, New Zealand, about 20 years of solid research made to discover the causes of Aids. There is no doubt that it was caused by a virus called HIV-1.
But Mr Brockie said that not everybody believes that. The just resigned South African president and his health minister believed it was caused by poor nutrition and urged victims to eat garlic, lemons and olive oil to avoid anti-Aids drugs which they claimed were poisonous.
There have been some curious beliefs that have persisted about the Aids virus:
In 2002, Boyd Groves, an American medical researcher, released secret government documents that he believed proved that the US and Soviet Governments had set about reducing the world's population by developing the Aids virus in 1962, a virus they knew would target black Africans. In 2001 Dr Groves petitioned the the US Supreme Court to have the programme dismantled - his case was dismissed as frivolous.
Many people still believe the virus moved from monkeys to humans in contaminated polio vaccines; monkey kidneys were used in early versions of the vaccine and the pandemic spread as it was used worldwide.
This belief had disasterous results in Nigeria, where villagers denied their children their polio shots on the grounds the vaccine was contaminated with the Aids virus. As a consequence the number of Aids cases doubled by 2004.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Part 2/.
According to Mr Brockie, the truth about the origin of Aids has just come to light with the discovery that the virus first infected people about a century ago (NATURE, October 2).
The proof, according to Mr Brockie comes in the form of some old biopsy specimens, taken in 1959 and 1960 from a woman in a Congolese hospital at Kinshasa and made into microscope slides. These were recently rediscovered and tested by a team of dna specialists who found the woman who had carried the Aids virus.
Led by Michael Worobey of the US, the scientists unravelled the woman's viral dna, which they compared with dna taken from a 1959 infection in Zaire, and about 200 more infections from around the world.
Using what is called the "molecular" clock, these scientists calculated that people were first infected with the virus between 1884 and 1924 - more likely 1908.
They think the disease passed undiagnosed through two generations of people before infecting the Kinshasa woman in 1960, some 20 years before it surfaced as a pandemic in America.
Where did the Aids virus come from? The Congo of 1908 was a very different place than the present day Congo, with many villagers then eating jungle animals as a matter of course. Chimpanzees up river from Kinshasa carry a a type of Aids virus as a 'silent' infection. Their viral dna and the Kinshasa woman's dna are strikingly similar. Dr Worobey's team think somebody became infected by eating chimpanzees about 1908 and that by 1960 the much mutated infectation reached Kinshasa.
Fortunately the South African president and health minister have both been replaced by more sensible politicians who have to struggle with 1700 Aids infected people every day. At last a commonsense approach is being carried out.
Acknowledgements:
Bob Brockie, Dominion Post,Wellington,NZ
Refer to NATURE,October 2 2008 Here
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
'BLOG ACTION DAY' - WHAT IS REAL POVERTY YOU MAY ASK? - POVERTY IS RELATIVE...
What is poverty? There is no single, univerally accepted standard definition of poverty. Modern definitions of poverty have allegedly moved away from conceptions based on a lack of physical necessities towards a more social and relative understanding. The European Union's working definition of poverty is as follows:
"Persons, families and groups of persons whose resources (material, cultural and social) are so limited as to exclude them from the minimum acceptable way of life in the Member State to which they belong"
Another definition of poverty is deprivation and the denial of access to those things which make a life of dignity possible, including not only food, shelter and safe drinking water, but also the intangibles as the opportunity to learn, to engage in meaningful employment or to enjoy the respect of ones fellow. Being made redundant from your job and thrown onto the proverbial employment scrapheap could be construed as a form of poverty - poverty of the soul! I have been there, and done that friends.
Another is the quality or state of being poor or indigent, want or the scarcity of subsistence, indiginence, and need. And deficiency of elements or resources that are needed or desired, or that constitute richness,as poverty of soil, poverty of the blood and poverty of ideas. Acknowledgements to Wikipedia.com.
As I stated earlier, poverty is relative to the society you have lived and been brought up in. It can be in a third world African, Asian or some Pacific Island society or in the middle of some first world capital city.
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
MELAMINE FEARS IN IMPORTED VEGETABLES FROM CHINA INTO NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA
Melamine fears in imported vegetables from China into New Zealand and Australia...
The latest in the Melamine scandal that killed four babies and made another 55,000 seriously ill in China, may now have headed to Australia and New Zealand in the South Pacific where there are new fears of contamination in vegetables imported from China.
It is believed the melamine has resulted from fertilisers and pesticides used during the growing process. Tests are now being carried out by NZ and Australian authorities, 'Food Standards Australia New Zealand'.
Read
Saturday, October 04, 2008
SARAH PALIN RECKONS IT'S THE TIME TO TAKE OFF THE GLOVES - A "MOOSEHEAD" IN MY HUMBLE OPINION...
Republican VP nominee, Sarah Palin reckons now is the time to take off the gloves. Loose cannon? Maybe!
As a foreigner looking in, I reckon her claims that Barack Obama was palling up to terrorists are inane and counterproductive to the Republican cause.
It is a sign that the campaign was turning nasty and may well see support for the Republicans falling even further. The Democrats dismiss the claims as just gutter politics!
Palin reckons its time to take off the gloves - just days after both presidential candidates called for a halt to partisan politics in the interests of ensuring the financial package can be passed.
I reckon she is a bit of a "moosehead" who could never be capable of stepping in as an alternative president if McCain was elected.
Read further
Sunday, September 28, 2008
THE MYSTERY OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTRE, "TOWER SEVEN" WHICH MYSTERIOUSLY COLLAPSED ON 9/11 IS SET TO BE SOLVED...
The mystery of World Trade Centre, "Tower Seven" which mysteriously collapsed on 9/11 is set to be solved...
First published at Qassia:
The so-called mystery of why Tower Seven collapsed at the World Trade Centre is set to be solved according to scientists. This building collapsed seven hours after the twin towers were hit by aircraft and also collapsed. It has been the subject of many 9/11 conspiracy theories.
Tower Seven was set ablaze by falling debris from the burning twin towers.
Sceptics have claimed that alone would not have caused the steel and concrete tower to collapse and have continued to claim it was a deliberate act of sabotage caused by explosives.
I must say that personally the footage I saw on television suggested a deliberate act. The building seemed to collapse in a more controlled explosive manner rather than the haphazard manner you would have expected with fire. But then again I am no expert.
However scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology claim they have got to the bottom of the mystery after a three year probe.
Read story here
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
MELAMINE - ADDED TO FOODSTUFFS CAN CAUSE SERIOUS HEALTH PROBLEMS - CAN BE FATAL...
Melamine - added to foodstuffs can cause serious health problems to children...
Melamine - a chemical proven fatal when added to foodstuffs:
A melamine-resin plateMelamine resin or melamine formaldehyde (also shortened to melamine) is a hard, thermosetting plastic material made from melamine and formaldehyde by polymerization. This plastic is often used in kitchen utensils and plates (such as Melmac) and is the main constituent of high-pressure laminates, such as Formica and Arborite, and of laminate flooring. Melamine-resin tile wall panels can also be used as whiteboards. Melamine resin often is used to saturate decorative papers that are directly laminated onto particle board; the resulting panel is often called melamine and commonly used in ready-to-assemble furniture and inexpensive kitchen cabinets.
A melamine-resin ladleA special form of melamine resin is melamine foam, used mainly as an insulating and soundproofing material and more recently as a cleaning abrasive.
Melamine resin utensils and bowls are not microwave safe, as they absorb the microwave radiation and heat up. As with all thermosetting materials, melamine resin cannot be melted and, therefore, cannot be recycled.
This is the chemical that has been added to foodstuffs and milk products in China. Some food products and childrens sweets have been found in a number of countries in recent times.
Four children have died and well over 40,000, perhaps over 50,000 children have become extremely ill through ingesting this product. Many children have developed kidney stones over an unknown period.
It appears that milk had been watered down and the melamine chemical was added to bring the milk product back up to an acceptable but false reading.
A health notice has been issued by food safety officials in New Zealand warning parents not to let their children consume Chinese made 'White Rabbit Creamy Candies', because they contain an acceptably high levels of melamine.
Melamine may cause health problems such as kidney stones; and the NZ health authorities have warned parents to seek medical advice if they are aware that their children have consumed these and similar products.
Read further
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
NO HOLDS BARRED
By Raja Petra Kamarudin
If I have learned one thing from my previous interrogations (of course, they call it ‘recording my statement’ and not ‘interrogation’) it is that the police will say one thing and then will do the opposite.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
The government has blocked Malaysia Today. And I mean www.malaysia-today.net, of course. Well, never mind, the server had been shut down and sold off way before the block anyway. So, in that sense, Malaysia Today no longer existed at the time they blocked it. Therefore they could not harm Malaysia Today much since it had already ‘died’ prior to that.
But all is not lost. ‘Friends of Malaysia Today’ in Singapore, Indonesia and the United States had earlier backed up the data from the old Malaysia Today server and have created a few mirror sites all over the world. It is unique the way they have linked all these various servers running on different urls so that when one site is updated all the others get updated as well, although the intervals vary between five to 15 minutes depending on the server.
The ‘Friends of Malaysia Today’ thought that the site is too crucial to be allowed to operate under an individual. So, just before the 8 March 2008 general election, they decided to band together and ‘corporatise’ Malaysia Today. This was of course on condition that the old ‘management’ of Malaysia Today was prepared to relinquish control of the site. Then, said the ‘Friends of Malaysia Today’, they will ensure that the site continues to operate even in the eventuality that I get sent to jail.
Today, I was summoned to Bukit Aman because of Dr Mohamed Osman Abdul Hamid of Pusrawi’s medical report and Statutory Declaration that were published in Malaysia Today. It seems Malaysia Today has committed an act of sedition under Malaysia’s Sedition Act and the police wanted me to admit that I own Malaysia Today, I was in control of the site at all times, and that I was instrumental in publishing both the medical report and the SD.
The police were actually quite upset with my responses. DSP Lee exasperatingly said that he used to have great respect and high regards for me but now has changed his opinion about me due to my wishy-washy and evasive responses. My replies to all their questions were: ‘don’t ask me, ask the owners of Malaysia Today’, ‘that question is not relevant to the issue’, ‘you have no jurisdiction over Malaysia Today since it is outside Malaysia’, ‘prove to me that those documents came from Malaysia Today’, ‘those documents are not from Malaysia Today, they are from another site’, ‘charge me and I will reply in court’, ‘why should I bother to reply since you are determined to charge me anyway’, and so on and so forth. I must admit that even I was irritated by my own cocky and neither here nor there replies.
If I have learned one thing from my previous interrogations (of course, they call it ‘recording my statement’ and not ‘interrogation’) it is that the police will say one thing and then will do the opposite. For example, they interrogated me about the Statutory Declaration that I signed on 18 June 2008 and said that the investigation was about me signing a false declaration. Basically, the police wanted me to prove that what I signed was no lie and that I really did have information from reliable sources. But when I managed to satisfy them with the answers and more or less proved that I had not lied, they turn around and charge me for Criminal Defamation instead. The issue of signing a false declaration never cropped up at all.
And this was in spite of the Section 112 statement clearly stating that my statement was being recorded under the section that covers the crime of making a false declaration. The police trick is simple. Accuse you of lying. Get you to prove you are not lying. And then, after you have offered the proof, they charge you for something else and use this proof to nail your balls to the wall. In other words, your cooperation in satisfying the police with all the right answers becomes the albatross around your neck. You prove you are innocent of one crime and this proof hangs you on another crime. Heads I win, tails you lose. Both ways they win in the end.
The MCMC said that Malaysia Today will remain blocked indefinitely. I really hope so. I would certainly not want them to unblock it for reasons I will not reveal at this stage. Nevertheless, they said that they blocked Malaysia Today because it has insulted Islam and the Prophet.
Actually, there are thousands of sites that more than just insult Islam and the Prophet. But none of these sites are being blocked. Why? Allow me to demonstrate what I mean. I will show you a handful of these sites that have done much worse than what Malaysia Today has been accused of.
Critical Analysis of Islam! (http://debate.org.uk/topics/coolcalm/ )
Samples of Quranic Contradictions, Inconsistencies and Errors. (http://www.faithfreedom.org/Articles/SKM/contradictions.htm )
An Imperfection in the Perfect Quran (http://www.faithfreedom.org/Articles/KimbleSmith.htm )
Qur’anic Language and Grammatical Mistakes (http://answering-islam.org/BehindVeil/btv8.html )
The Contradictions of the Qur’an (http://answering-islam.org/BehindVeil/btv11.html )
Faith Freedom (http://www.faithfreedom.org/index.htm )
The complete list of sites offering an Alternative View on Islam (http://www.primechoice.com/philosophy/listIslam.htm )
As I said, there are thousands of sites that demolish Islam totally. Basically, these sites call Islam, Prophet Muhammad and the Quran fakes. But these sites are not blocked. And although they run down Islam and totally demolish Islam, they are not blocked because they are not anti-Umno or anti-Barisan Nasional. That is the issue.
MCMC and the police will probably argue that these sites are all overseas so there is nothing they can do about them. Well, so is Malaysia Today, but that did not stop them.
View here
TWO MALAYSIAN BLOGGERS ARRESTED UNDER THE INTERNAL SECURITY ACT DURING THE LAST WEEK...
A second Malaysian opposition blogger has been arrested for displaying the national flag upside down, during the last week. The Malaysian Government appears to be coming under even more pressure.
Syed Azidi Syed Aziz, better known as "Kickdefellah" online, is the second blogger arrested in Malaysia during the last week. The arrests have been described as ridiculous.
The Malaysian opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, is reportedly demanding a vote of no confidence in the Malaysian Government. He also claims to have the numbers to bring down the Government of the Prime Minister, Abdullah Badawi.
Mr Syed Aziz, was arrested on Wednesday, under the Internal Security Act for sedition. His website advocated other people flying the flag upside down in protest.
This arrest follows that of the controversial and well published arrest of Raja Petra Kamaruddin last Friday under Malaysia's Internal Security Act, which allows detention without trial. He attacked government figures on his popular website, "Malaysia Today" and was charged with sedition and defamation alleging that Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife were linked to the sensational murder of a Mongolian woman. He has reportedly been sent to the Kamunting Detention Centre for two years.
Visit Malaysia Today
Sunday, September 21, 2008
THE CHINESE BABY MILK SCANDAL HAS WIDENED AND NOW INVOLVES GLOBAL GIANT SWISS COMPANY NESTLE...
The Chinese baby milk scandal has widened and now involves giant Swiss company, Nestle.
The death toll is now four and the number of ill children exceeds 40,000.
Twelve more people have been arrested and another seventy eight questioned in connection to the scandal.
There have been reports of other milk products being contaminated by melamine in overseas countries, including New Zealand where a number of milk products originating from China have been taken off the shelves after tests have shown they have been contaminated as well, and also in Hong Kong where products have been removed from two supermarket chains.
This scandal has a long way to run, in my opinion, and will continue to harm innocent foreign companies through their association with their guilty Chinese counterparts.
Another story and video
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